{"id":53,"date":"2005-03-09T16:16:21","date_gmt":"2005-03-09T20:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/getgood.com\/roadmaps\/?p=53"},"modified":"2005-03-09T16:16:21","modified_gmt":"2005-03-09T20:16:21","slug":"blogging-and-the-online-intersection-between-a-job-and-your-private-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/getgood.com\/roadmaps\/2005\/03\/09\/blogging-and-the-online-intersection-between-a-job-and-your-private-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Blogging and the online intersection between a Job and your Private Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">This week, both the \u201ctraditional\u201d media and the blogosphere picked up on the topic of how, and where, to define the line between an individual\u2019s professional role, and responsibility to his employer, and his private life. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">I have some thoughts on what we should do, as individuals and as employers, to make all of this clearer.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&nbsp; <\/span>Before you read what I think, please read (if you haven\u2019t already) some of what has already been said. It will give you better context for my comments. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\"><strong>Get the Background<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Traditional Media: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div><span face=\"Times New Roman\">From Associated Press: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bizreport.com\/news\/8734\/\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Firms Taking Action Against Worker Blogs<\/span><\/a><span face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><span face=\"Times New Roman\">From CNET: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/news.com.com\/FAQ+Blogging+on+the+job\/2100-1030_3-5597010.html?tag=st.num\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">FAQ: Blogging on the job<\/span><\/a><span face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">And from the blogosphere, in no particular order: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Media Guerilla<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/mmanuel.typepad.com\/media_guerrilla\/2005\/03\/putting_blogger.html\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">: Putting Bloggers in a PR Headlock, Good Luck<\/span><\/a><span face=\"Times New Roman\"> who introduced me to: <\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.siliconvalleywatcher.com\/mt\/archives\/2005\/03\/if_a_blogger_bl.php\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">If a Blogger Blogs in the Blogosphere&#8230;<\/span><\/a><span face=\"Times New Roman\"> by Tom Foremski (SiliconValley Watcher)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><span face=\"Times New Roman\">From NevOn: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nevon.net\/nevon\/2005\/03\/cnets_guide_to_.html\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">CNET&#8217;s guide to blogging misses the mark<\/span><\/a><span face=\"Times New Roman\"> Commentary on the CNET article referenced above. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\"><u>And The Technorati \u201cThing\u201d<\/u> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">A Technorati employee\u2019s blog posting on his personal blog and Technorati\u2019s response. Here are some of the posts from various blogs on the topic, which you\u2019ve probably seen elsewhere but are included here for those of my readers who haven\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div><span face=\"Times New Roman\">The Principal Players: Niall Kennedy, Community Manager at Technorati, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.niallkennedy.com\/blog\/archives\/2005\/03\/whose_voice_is.html\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Whose voice is it anyway?<\/span><\/a><span face=\"Times New Roman\"> and David Sifry, Technorati CEO: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sifry.com\/alerts\/archives\/000297.html\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Regarding Technorati&#8217;s Community Manager, Niall Kennedy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp; <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Some commentary (by no means all!) from the blogosphere:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div><span face=\"Times New Roman\">From Buzz Marketing with Blogs: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.buzzmarketingwithblogs.com\/weblog\/item\/update_technorati_blog_policy_clarified\/\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Technorati Policy Clarified<\/span><\/a><span face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Russell Beattie: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.russellbeattie.com\/notebook\/1008345.html\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Taking Down Posts Doesn&#8217;t Work<\/span><\/a><span face=\"Times New Roman\"> (found on The Red Couch)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><span face=\"Times New Roman\">From Scoble over at The Red Couch<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/redcouch.typepad.com\/weblog\/2005\/03\/dave_sifry_and_.html\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">: Dave Sifry and Niall Kennedy in lesson on corporate blogging<\/span><\/a><span face=\"Times New Roman\"> Among other bits of good advice in this post, he repeats a rule I have long lived by, and not just for posts on the net \u2013 everything I say: <\/span><span face=\"Times New Roman\"><em>\u201cBut, whenever I post I think about how I&#8217;ll justify my post to my boss, my wife, my readers, the execs, my coworkers. I imagine how that post will look on the front of the New York Times.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><span face=\"Times New Roman\">From Venture Chronicles: <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/sapventures.typepad.com\/main\/2005\/03\/technorati_accu.html\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Technorati accused of blog censorship<\/span><\/a><span face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;<\/span><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Short sweet and to the point. I particularly liked: <em>\u201cAn employee should be free to express their views on any issue, but when the issue in question directly relates to their job or their company&#8217;s business interests then they are swimming in a shark tank without a cage.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\"><strong>Agreed.<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">The interesting question is, what is the dividing line between our actions as employees, and our actions as private individuals. <\/span><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Let\u2019s assume that the material in question is not related to the employer or its business interests, but merely the employee\u2019s own expression. <\/span><span face=\"Times New Roman\">How far into our own lives does our role as an employee extend?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">In the \u201cold\u201d days, before the Internet, life was much simpler. Seriously.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&nbsp; <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">There were fewer outlets for expression, and the media was predominantly controlled by profit-seeking corporations, not individuals (in jammies or otherwise). Of course, there were \u201cunderground\u201d publications and alternative media, but they did not have the reach of the Internet. And they certainly weren\u2019t available to just about everyone, at just about no cost. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">It is a wonderful world that everyone can be a publisher, but now we have this new dilemma. Lots of people who can publish but not everyone understands the rules.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">What are the accepted rules of behavior of the individual as an employee? What do they owe the company and what goes beyond the pale? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">In my simpler time of no Internet and controlled media, a company had employees whose job it was to represent the company, mostly the executives, PR people and other spokes-persons. These employees were trained on how to present company messages AND themselves to the outside world. They also understood that their actions reflected on the company. That\u2019s not to say there weren\u2019t screw-ups, but they knew the rules. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Now, in our brave new world of blogging, the company isn\u2019t putting its employees in the public eye and training them how to handle it. People are putting themselves in the public eye. Unfortunately, the media training and experience that prepares professional communicators for the fishbowl isn\u2019t available to everyone. So it is not surprising that people have been blindsided by the fact that what they post in their blogs can have repercussions. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">The advice in Scoble\u2019s Red Couch post is excellent. Here are my additions: advice for individuals and recommendations for companies. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\"><strong>Advice\/Individuals: <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Practice some common sense. As Scoble said, before you post, ask if you would want to read your post on the front page of the New York Times?<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&nbsp; &nbsp; <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><span face=\"Times New Roman\">If you have a high profile role at your company, practice even more discretion, even in your personal blog. If you aren\u2019t sure whether your role is high profile, don\u2019t assume that it is NOT. This doesn\u2019t mean that you have to stifle your opinions. You just have to be aware that your opinion may reflect on your employer and, right or wrong, the employer may respond. If you really still want to do that controversial post, you\u2019ve got options. Do it anyway, and live with the potential consequences. Or consider doing an anonymous blog and still, no matter what, don\u2019t violate the following rule: <\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Don\u2019t blog about confidential matters. If you aren\u2019t sure what that means, get some clarification. It is worth it in the long run. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Find out if your company has a blogging policy. If it doesn\u2019t, it may be worthwhile to help it develop one. You\u2019ll certainly know what\u2019s in it. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\"><strong>Recommendations\/Companies:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Develop a blogging policy. Make sure you cover the policies for corporate-sponsored and sanctioned blogging as well as ANY expectations you have about employees\u2019 personal blogs regarding your proprietary information, trademarks and legitimate business interests. And do this in conjunction with employees you have who are already blogging. Don\u2019t do it in a legal vacuum. Your policy will be better and your employees will have a stake in making it successful.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><span face=\"Times New Roman\">Clearly identify employees who you consider ambassadors of your brands. It used to be that only executives had high profile public roles. Now, many employees in staff positions, particularly in tech companies, have high profiles as employees of their company. As a result, their opinions and actions may be interpreted as reflective of the company. Not fair perhaps, but it is the reality. It is a mutual responsibility: the company should tell them it views them as such, and employees in public or even semi-public roles should find out if their role requires different behavior. It\u2019s just common sense. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div><span face=\"Times New Roman\">If what your employees say about the firm in their personal blogs is important to you, and it should be, give them some communications training. You really can\u2019t prevent them from having a blog, or saying they work for your firm, or even writing about their day at work (within reason), unless they have explicitly agreed to this higher degree of confidentiality in their employment agreement. <\/p>\n<p>BUT: You can help them by giving them tools to understand the communications process a bit better. It might make them better writers, and that can ONLY be for the good <\/span><span style=\"FONT-FAMILY: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: \"><span style=\"mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings\">J<\/span><\/span><span face=\"Times New Roman\"><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/span><span face=\"Times New Roman\">I wish companies would offer something (even just a dreaded Powerpoint) to all employees, but I think communications training is REQUIRED for all employees from whom the company wants a higher degree of discretion as well as anyone who is blogging for the company. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span face=\"Times New Roman\">If you\u2019ve noticed the theme in all of this, top marks. This is all just simple common sense. Just a little bit will go a long way toward helping us handle the fuzzy dividing line where our professional identities end and our personal lives begin.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&nbsp; <\/span><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes\">&nbsp; <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\">\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\"><span style=\"color: #ff3300;\">NOTE: if you see an earlier version of this somewhere, I hit Publish Now when I meant to Save Draft. I caught it right away but who knows\u2026.. My apologies as there was a lot of funky formatting that I hadn\u2019t fixed yet. Anyway, I deleted the old version because it was just too hard to fix the mess, but the content was all the same! <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week, both the \u201ctraditional\u201d media and the blogosphere picked up on the topic of how, and where, to define the line between an individual\u2019s professional role, and responsibility to his employer, and his private life. I have some thoughts on what we should do, as individuals and as employers, to make all of this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/getgood.com\/roadmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/getgood.com\/roadmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/getgood.com\/roadmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getgood.com\/roadmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/getgood.com\/roadmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/getgood.com\/roadmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/\/getgood.com\/roadmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/getgood.com\/roadmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/getgood.com\/roadmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}