After reading several Corporate blogging policies like that of Yahoo!, Feedster, Sun Microsystems, Plaxo, Harvard Law School, and Thomas Nelson Publishers, I have compiled my all star roster of sorts of the type of rules that I would include if I were to create a policy of my own.
< 1 > All blogs must include a disclaimer stating that the views and opinions posted in the blog represent that of the blogger and not that of his/her employer.
< 2 > Bloggers will respect all company employees, competitors, customers, and company policies ( respect as in no slanderous, degrading, or insulting posts on the subjects).
< 3 > Information may not be posted about company policy, finances of the company, company products to be released, or anything that may be deemed private by the company.
< 4 > Bloggers must avoid any activity that would incur legal action that could sully the reputation of the company.
< 5 > Bloggers are reminded to use common sense when posting. Write in a manner that is appropriate for all audiences.
< 6 > All rules are subject to interpretation by Company officials and all punishments will be decided upon and directly proportional to the severity of the violation up to and including termination.
My number one rule was mentioned in some form by each of the policies that I evaluated however in most there were specific disclaimers quoted that employees were required to add to their blogs. My number two rule was also mentioned in each policy although there were several different ways to word them whether the term slander was used or disrespect. I tried to incorporate many different terminologies because I don’t have a specific company that I was speaking to and therefore had less of an idea of my audience.
Many, if not all of my guidelines are mentioned in the corporate blogging policies that I observed. There were variations depending on the company that set the policy. For example, true to form the policy of the Harvard Law School was very conscious of legal matters such as copyright infringements and legal rights to postings and information. I also noticed that the policy of Sun Microsystems was much more casual and spoke to the people who more commonly work with computers and perhaps “know better”. In this policy I adopted the “common sense” guideline, which speaks to computer professionals who know right from wrong when referring to internet blogging. The Plaxo policy was seemingly barren of details but the reference to the employee handbook implies that the company is more face to face and hands on and that employees are briefed on policies more personally.
Most of my rules and regs were the most popular from the corporate blogging policies that I analyzed. Some of the more unique rules were ones like the prohibition of posting solicitations and advertisements by the Thomas Nelson Publishers policy. The Harvard Law School policy notes that they have the right to remove any posts that they deem unfit for the blog, which I think is more relevant to the company protecting itself from legal action against them. This is a law conscious guideline that speaks to the nature of the company itself.
I enjoyed reading the Sun Microsystems policy because it was written in a way that almost appealed to someone my age in that it wasn’t too technical. It was casual in a way that made it seem like the guidelines were in your best interest and you would be protecting yourself. Some of the more unique phrases were “Be interesting”, “Don’t Tell Secrets”, and “Write What You Know”.
Here are the links to the policies I read…
Feedster --
http://feedster.blogs.com/corporate/2005/03/corporate_blogg.html
Sun Microsystems—
http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2004/05/02/Policy
Harvard Law School—
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/terms-of-use/
Thomas Nelson Publishers--
http://michaelhyatt.blogs.com/workingsmart/2005/03/corporate_blogg.html
Plaxo
http://blog.plaxoed.com/?p=41