The Dos and Donts of Business Blogging
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Business > Management
Jun 16, 2007
The Dos and Donts of Business Blogging
When a few years back the term blog came into public attention, the more serious and sober people, like bigwig corporations, termed it as nothing more than a place where a few loud-mouthed weirdoes express their angst online about almost anything. Coming back to the present age, corporate honchos no longer regard blogs as a silly and frivolous online page, but have realized their great potential. And now, when one logs on to the Internet, one can witness innumerable business blogs from companies of all sizes. However, despite all its benefits, corporate blogging has attracted a lot of legal concerns. The main one being that in a rush to create content, corporate blog writers often forget that it is a form of public business communication, and hence subject to various legal regulations and guidelines. Therefore, there are some dos and donts that must be keep in mind while writing corporate blogs to make them legally compliant. DOs: Always have a clear idea as to why the company needs a blog and how many blogs are to be hosted. Plus, what the objectives are behind running these blogs. Be very clear about implementing a strict policy about employee blogs, especially those in which the senior executives also contribute their thoughts. Implementing such stringent policies will help you to prevent litigation and other such problems down the road. Make it a point that you monitor all the blog postings without fail, so that you know whether the employees are complying with all the rules. Assign authors to do all the blog postings so that the content posted is written responsibly. Always make sure that the blog is fresh and updated regularly. Have a simple and easy to remember blog address, along with equally easy to understand blog terms and conditions posted on the blog. Before posting the blog, always consider how it will affect the company. Plus, create a provision for archiving all the postings. Do remember consumer protection laws and ensure that the blog postings are not misleading or that they are not banned under any law. Also take care of privacy and information security laws. Do also take care of all the intellectual property laws, and train all your employees on such requirements. Also, as often blogs are copy/pasted off web content, make sure that they comply with fair use principles. Train you employees on how to create a blog posting that will not invite negative reaction from a third party such as defamation suits, negligent misrepresentation or vicarious liability. And lastly, be mindful of security laws and train your employees not to post content that can be considered as making material misstatements that can manipulate stock prices, and increase exposure to security fraud charges being made. DONTs: Make sure that you dont employ consumer bloggers to post anything without them showing their affiliation with the company. Excessive positive blogging that crosses the line attract the attention of law regulators. Do not host a blog unless all the employees are trained in posting content responsibly. Never forget to supervise and monitor the blog periodically for breach of any law or company policy. Never allow your corporate blog to be a sounding board for your employees where they can say absolutely anything about the company and its products without any accuracy and proof. Do not permit anyone to publish the secrets of your company, product secrets etc. And finally, do not terminate employees for posting inappropriate content without giving the matter proper thought, as your reputation can be at stake if the employee files a wrongful termination claim. Corporate blogging has many benefits and offers a lot of potential to help you generate good vibes with your customers, but only if you dont forsake your common sense and honesty to keep it on the right side of the law.
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