Setting the Limits to Corporate Blogging

How far can one go in posting information on blogs?

As soon as blogging was introduced into the business world as a new means to interact with colleagues, business clients and suppliers, many companies have embraced the idea of giving their employees and workers the new voice of freedom.

Top corporations have even formally made blogging a part of their business marketing strategies. Some companies have also established a blog network for their employees and executives.

Blogging has become a very effective business tool. Proof of this is the Internet popularity of some corporate "spokesbloggers" like Microsoft's Robert Scoble.

However, just recently, the corporate blogging world was rocked with controversy when a libel suit was filed against a popular company over one of its employees’ personal blogs. The trouble ensued from the blog allegedly hosted by one of the company’s executive in the intellectual property department.

The executive who later revealed his identity posted blogs as a way for the company to advocate for new federal laws on patents and patent litigation. However, since the company has a pending patent case, two lawyers of the concerned party filed a libel lawsuit against the executive for “tarnishing their good names and disparaging a patent case their client had filed against them, while allegedly concealing his affiliation with the company”.

This incident brought up the issue of how far blogging must be tolerated by companies in expressing views publicly.

While blogging policies may vary from company to company, some have already adopted so-called “common sense” rules on blogging. Sun Microsystems, Yahoo, Google, Dell and BBC, to name a few, have their own blogging policies. Some of their rules may not be strict but it somehow defines and guides a blogger on what information to posts on his blogsite. Most important of all, the rule tells a blogger to identify himself and disclose his corporate affiliation before giving out any information related to his work.

Although personal blogging is mostly allowed by a number of companies, the “common sense” rule often applies to information related to the company such as vital corporate policies, confidential matter, and other delicate legal information.

As a result, this incident drove many companies to review their policies on corporate blogging about disclosure of company-related information.