Bernaisesource

OK – you have done your homework, read Naked Conversations, gotten management to adopt a corporate blogging policy and now you are ready to embrace social media.  

You have ceded some of your control to enable employees to blog and now you brace yourself for the candor, personalization and transparency you have been advocating.

Easier said than done. When implementing a company blogging policy, forbidding the disclosure of proprietary and confidential information is a no brainer, but another key consideration is disclaimers. 

Employees wishing to discuss their company need to include a disclaimer stating that the views expressed on their personal blogs do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the company.  But what about posting online commentary on other sites?  What disclaimer guidelines should an employee follow when discussing a company, its products or its competitors when he or she is not a designated spokesperson?  Here a few options:

Option 1: Avoid the issue and post anonymously (that doesn’t make it legal or appropriate to violate a company’s disclosure policy on proprietary and confidential information.)  This is not ideal because it limits visibility, but it does permit more latitude to speak more openly. Of course some blogs don’t allow anonymous comments.

Option 2:  Require employees to state somewhere in a posting that the expressed views don’t necessarily reflect the views of the company.  This gives the blogger and the company more opportunities to get credit for the information.  This is always odd because it is hard to ignore the connection between the blogger and the company.

Option 3: Authorize a group of trusted, media-trained employees to comment as official spokespersons whose views do reflect those of the company.  This group does not need to use disclaimers.

Commenting, when appropriately done (respectfully and on topic) is an ideal way to extend a company’s message, correct factual inaccuracies, and provide useful information.  It is not a forum for employees to inflame and create controversy nor is it an invitation to disregard company policies or codes of behavior.  Looking for a comprehensive list of commenting do's and don'ts, I came across this posting by Gina Trapani -- Commenting Rules. It is very helpful.

This discussion is rather amazing for corporate communications department heads who in the past had exerted total control over the communications process.  It’s particularly challenging as the distinction between old media and blogs disappears. Many newspapers have blogs, and many blog postings make it onto news sites.  Often postings on blogs make their way into mainstream media.  

Still, I would never let a spokesperson talk to a reporter by him or herself let alone without talking points.  But in the interest of time management and personal expression, I won't object to employees expressing their views in the blogosphere.

I think the key to a successful blogging policy is flexibility – knowing you can’t anticipate every scenario. As long as an employee is acting in good faith, understands the rules of engagement and has an employer who has embraced social media as a tool for advocacy, then the blogging policy will be a success.  Lastly and more importantly, employees need to remember that when talking about their companies -- with or without permission -- they are agents of their companies and need to put the interests of their companies first.

I would be interested in hearing about how other companies address online commenting and disclaimers.

Let me get back to you.

Technorati Tags: Disclaimers; Commenting; Corporate Blogs; Social Media;