More companies are taking up corporate blogging as a marketing and networking technique. If you’re involved in a blogging project, propose a formal policy — it may save your company from legal trouble.

Businesses are realizing how valuable the Internet is as an advertising and communication tool. But there are risks, and you should protect your company’s venture into cyberspace with a formal blogging policy that touches on these important topics:

• Personal responsibility. You should state that any employees who participate in corporate blogging are ultimately responsible for their language and opinions. “Let employees know that while the company supports shared speech and the dissemination of ideas, individual bloggers can be held personally liable for comments that are deemed to be defamatory or libelous … or which violate harassment and discrimination policies or laws,” says Maria Greco Danaher, Chair of the Employment and Labor Law Group for Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote, PC. You may even want to require employees to include a disclaimer stating that their opinions don’t reflect the opinions of the company, she suggests.
• Company information and privacy. The release of proprietary information is often the cause of legal disputes. Instruct employees that they should be certain any company information they reveal is safe for public knowledge. Designate a contact person within the company to whom employees can turn if they have a question regarding blog content, Danaher urges.
• Editorial boundaries. The grey area for blogging is the line between editorial freedom and policy violations. The company does have the right to censor blogs for language and discriminatory language because the blog is company property, she confirms. But to support this kind of open media is also to concede that there may be some negative feedback from the public. Think of it as an opportunity to address public concerns.

Filed under: Management Minute