“Don’t Do Anything Stupid”. Following up on recent posts here and elsewhere on the generally overwrought reaction to corporate blogging, Heather’s “Marketing at Microsoft” Blog digs into the difference between companies that want their employees to blog and companies that allow their employees to blog:
My opinion (which all of this is), is simply that if you can’t trust your folks to blog, then don’t have them blog for work. It’s not for everyone…consider your corporate culture. But make an informed decision based on an understanding of the medium and it’s potential value to your organization. When I look at some of these blog policies, I try to think about how my blogging would change if I had to apply them. It’s not necessarily any one policy that concerns me but that, taken together, they seem to represent a fear of allowing employees to blog. As if to say: “we don’t really want you to blog, but if you must, follow these vague rules”. Telling people not to violate agreements they have signed? Duh! You can’t disclose proprietary information? Duh! No obscene material? Wait while I delete a post I’ve been working on.
Via Dennis.