It’s really very simple – blog smart.

Employee_Blogging.pdf (application/pdf Object)

The New York Times: TOM ZELLER Jr.

Citing an example of a Technorati employee who posted to his private blog. The employee was simply asked by his manager whether he thought the post was appropriate. Raises questions about where the personal starts and where does work finish, particularly as it was a satirical piece. The article also hints at the dark side of open blogging policies, such as Sun Microsystems. Sure they may empower employees but it also gives management a way to monitor what is being said by an employee – particularly when the policy requires employees to blog under their real names.

Bounded entities – those discrete organisations that have artificial communication walls – are a thing of the past when employees begin to blog. Employee blogs alter internal boundaries and utilise the power of individual social networks. They are a force of mobilisation of action across functional and geographic lines.

Worth noting that PR is a function of management and leadership and it’s something that must be managed rather than controlled when employees blog.

Link to Policies compared: Today’s corporate blogging rules

Groundswell (Incorporating Charlene Li’s Blog): Blogging policy examples: “One thing that I discuss in my report on corporate blogging is the need for policies, one for a company to provide guidelines to its employee bloggers, and the other for the blogger – a “code of ethics” to build trust with readers. Please keep in mind that these are sample policies – every company and blogger will have to modify them to meet their own needs.”

The link here provides a sample code of ethics and blogging policy and is well worth the read for people considering a corporate blog.

eclecticism » Blog Archive » Of blogging and unemployment: ““Good. That means that as it’s your site on your own server, you have the right to say anything you want. Unfortunately, Microsoft has the right to decide that because of what you said, you’re no longer welcome on the Microsoft campus.””

Microsoft fires worker over weblog: “Michael Hanscom began keeping an online journal, commonly known as a weblog, several years ago. He started his job as a contract worker in Microsoft’s print shop last year. Last week, he mixed the two. This week, he’s looking for a new job, after becoming an unwilling case study in the fine line walked by corporate employees who write about work in their personal weblogs.”

Termination and unfair dismissal is a pdf from DoCEP which deals with unfair dismissal cases in Australia. What is important is the Federal governments Workchoices legislation excludes many businesses from regulation under this Act; however Unlawful dismissal is covered across the whole of Australia. Unlawful dismissal is what I will be the focus of my next essay; although not from a legal perspective.

Blogging rights (link requires subscription)