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Harassment -- Some insensitive bloggers might think it's cute to make inappropriate comments of a racial, religious, or sexual nature directed at coworkers, or others in general. This can create an inhospitable working environment for those who don't share in the same views or sense of humor. The blogger can be brought up on charges of harassment and eventually terminated for inappropriate workplace behavior.

The Responsibility of Corporate Bloggers

Corporate blogging is a lot different than personal blogging. If you're a hobby blogger or a sole proprietor, you can say just about anything you want because you'll be the only person who suffers from the consequences of inappropriate content. You'll be damaging your own reputation and image. But when you're a corporate blogger, or when you're blogging about your company on a personal blog, you're representing (or misrepresenting) your company. And some readers may view a blog written by a company employee as tantamount to a company-sponsored blog. This is guilt by association.

Employers can't, and shouldn't, restrict the activities of its bloggers by creating a hostile police state, eliminating personal expression, or censoring blog content with the proverbial black marker. Doing so will simply provide blog fodder for the employee. Limiting personal expression can reduce employee morale. But if employees want to blog they need to follow an etiquette. Employers must make it known to all employees that, as representatives of the company, they must blog responsibly and not write anything that will devalue or impair the worth of the company's brand identity and reputation.

Bloggers, for their part, must understand their responsibilities as members of an organization. They can't bite the hand that feeds them without expecting consequences (bloggers, however, may be protected by whistleblower statutes under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act -- but this is a completely different issue). While every company will have a different response to employees who are critical of their employers, bloggers must be aware of the differences between professional discord and just plain dissing.

The Dos and Don'ts

Bloggers must conduct themselves on the blogosphere professionally and respectfully.

Bloggers must never divulge company secrets or post anything that will devalue the worth of the company's brand identity and reputation. Most companies already have confidentiality agreements and rules of conduct; these should extend to blogs.

Employers should include blogging etiquette and guidelines in the employee manual.

Depending on severity, bloggers who post inappropriate content about their company should be given a formal warning and asked to remove the content before more severe actions are taken.

It's up the employers to determine the degree to which employees will be reprimanded for inappropriate blogging behavior. While employers have ample justification for firing employees who divulge confidential information, they might face the court of public opinion when unduly censoring employees for minor criticisms.

Bloggers should place a clear disclaimer on their blog stating that the views and opinions expressed are theirs alone and don't reflect the views and opinions of their company.

Closing Thoughts

Bloggers need to realize that they're employees first and bloggers second. They shouldn't allow their enthusiasm for the latter be a detriment to the former. Bloggers must conduct themselves in the same manner as they would when performing their primary job. Using a blog as a brain dump and posting something haphazardly can jeopardize both their career and their company. Do you remember that saying about the pen being mightier than the sword? Well, if you're not careful, you might end up stabbing yourself with it.

Paul Chin (www.paulchinonline.com) is an IT consultant and a freelance writer. Previously, Paul worked as an intranet and content management specialist in the aerospace and competitive intelligence industries.

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