Law.com's do's and don't of corporate blogging. Excellent overview....

Even seasoned communicators should take a look at As Blogging Grows, So Do Its Do's and Dont's, an article by Alysa N. Zeltzer adn John E. Villafranco at Law.Com. These are corporate blogging guidelines from the point of view of the legal department, and they provide rich insight into the legal issues of blogging. At the very least, understanding the points in this article will prepare communicators for possible objections to blogging raised by corporate or client legal departments. Here are a few samples:

• Do be mindful of intellectual property laws and train your blogging employees on such requirements. Employee postings on a corporate blog that include a third-party's intellectual property, such as copyrighted material or trademarks, may expose the company to allegations of infringement. Given that blogs, by their nature, tend to build off the content of other Web sites and materials through linking and copying, it is critical that such use complies with "fair use" principles (i.e., posted for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research).

• Do implement a clear policy on employee blogs, especially those in which senior executives contribute. Chances are, a number of your employees already have a blog that prominently features their association with the business, and many are saying plenty of things (and sharing images) relating to the company. Some of that content may be innocuous; other types may be embarrassing or come back to haunt the company in litigation. Implementing and enforcing a clear policy that provides reasonable parameters for such postings can save you headaches down the road.

• Don't employ consumer bloggers to say positive things about your company's products or services without ensuring that they disclose their affiliations with the company. Endorsements and testimonials by word of mouth have always been a popular form of marketing, but the blogging world has made them even more so, thereby making content that crosses the line an attractive target for regulators.

• Don't terminate employees for posting inappropriate content to corporate blogs without considering the risk of wrongful termination claims, especially where the company does not have a consistent practice on how it treats employees who post content online. Employees may claim that the employer authorized the posting, and is now discriminating against them for exercising their right to organize.

What's refreshing here is seeing corporate lawyers saying "By all means... blog!" instead of taking the knee-jerk "better not!" stance.

Technorati : alysa zeltzer, blogging guidelines, corporate blogging, john villafranco, law.com

Posted by Allan Jenkins on February 18, 2007 at 06:45 PM in Business, Communication, Law | Permalink

Comments

Post a comment