Dutch Perspective Blogging Guidelines

Richard Bailey provides some interesting links to companies’ blogging guidelines. One of the things that caused some blogging hesitation and that I am most paranoid about is the association with an employer. I do mention my employer here, simply out of honesty, but it shouldn’t have any effect or influences, and of course, I do not represent the opinion of my employer in this blog (indirectly I do represent the image of my employer, hence the hesitation and paranoia).

I recently talked to a journalist who apparently had seen my blog. He asked if I would ever post anything about the CSO. I told him that except for the news coming out of the organization and my excitement of that news (appointment of Bernard Haitink, Silk Road Chicago etc.) I would not blog about the CSO. At the risk of being a less interesting blog, you will not find juicy insider information here.

From Richard Bailey’s links I gathered some guidelines that apply to this blog and that are directly taken and sometimes slightly edited from the URLs below. Over time, I am planning to add some more original guidelines to a permanent section of this blog.

Yahoo | IBM | PR Voice | Telegraph | BBC

Introduction (BBC)
When bloggers clearly identifies themselves as an employee of a company and/or discuss their work, the company can expect them to behave well when blogging, and in ways that are consistent with the company’s values and policies. These guidelines are not intended to restrict blogging, as long as confidential information is not revealed.

Best Practice Guidelines (IBM)

• Know and follow the company’s business conduct guidelines;
• Blogs, wikis and other forms of online discourse are individual interactions, not corporate communications. Bloggers are personally responsible for their posts. Be mindful that what you write will be public for a long time — protect your privacy;
• Identify yourself — name and, when relevant, role at your company — when you blog about your company or related matters. And write in the first person. You must make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of your company;
• Respect your audience. Don’t use ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, etc., and show proper consideration for others’ privacy and for topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory — such as politics and religion;
• Find out who else is blogging on the topic, and cite them;
• Don’t pick fights, be the first to correct your own mistakes, and don’t alter previous posts without indicating that you have done so;
• Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective.

Legal Liability (Yahoo!)
Bloggers are legally responsible for their commentary. Individual bloggers can be held personally liable for any commentary deemed to be defamatory, obscene, proprietary, or libelous (pertaining to individuals and any other company). For these reasons, bloggers should exercise caution with regards to exaggeration, colorful language, guesswork, obscenity, copyrighted materials, legal conclusions, and derogatory remarks or characterizations. In essence, you blog (or post on the blogs of others) at your own risk! Outside parties actually can pursue legal action against bloggers for postings.

Company Privileged Information (Yahoo!)
Any confidential, proprietary, or trade secret information is obviously off-limits for a blog per the agreement you have signed with your company. Anything related to a company’s policy, inventions, strategy, financials, products, etc. that has not been made public cannot appear in a blog under any circumstances. Disclosing confidential or proprietary information can negatively impact business and may result in regulatory violations for the company.

Comments (PR Voice and Telegraph)
It is my policy to review all comments before publishing, partly to reduce the possibility of spam comments and partly to ensure comments are in line with best practice requirements as outlined above.

I don’t publish comments that I deem offensive – some bloggers have received attacks based on their religion, for example – but be warned: I set the bar pretty high in terms of what we consider offensive. The best way to handle the criticism is simply to develop a thick skin. This is an open forum and I hope to be able to publish as many of your comments as possible.

I do reserve the right to edit, move or delete any comment at any time, for any reason – but hope in practice that this won’t be necessary.