IBM Employee Blogging Guidelines Released
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Written By Reprise Media | May 16, 2005 | Share This
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A follow-up to our story last week on the employee blogging initiative at IBM. The Scobelizer blog has a post that links to the recently distributed IBM Blogging Policy & Guidelines.
IBM employee James Snell is the author of the post, which provides some background on the guidelines and how they were developed. Apparently, a team […]
A follow-up to our story last week on the employee blogging initiative at IBM. The Scobelizer blog has a post that links to the recently distributed IBM Blogging Policy & Guidelines.
IBM employee James Snell is the author of the post, which provides some background on the guidelines and how they were developed. Apparently, a team made up of IBM bloggers and corporate communications professionals drafted the policy over the course of 10 days using an internal wiki.
Though Snell uses a how to blog safely article on CNN as a contrasting example of how not to go about blogging in his intro, we feel the comparison is a little unfair.
The CNN article’s intent is to show readers how to blog about controversial topics and “avoid the wrath of Mom, the boss or just about anyone else”. It’s not about blogging out in the open and the principles behind doing so in the workplace. If you’re going to say nasty/disparaging things, of course you don’t want your identity attached. To call for full disclosure in that type of situation isn’t really realistic. It’s more about covering your tracks.
That said, we still don’t think it’s ever a good idea to say information and opinions you don’t want shared with the world on any type of blog, protected or otherwise. Even the most well-hidden blogs are prone to exposure and the best strategy is to avoid that type of situation in the first place.
Back to the guidelines themselves - For a company as historically buttoned-up as IBM (though that’s changed somewhat in the last 10 years), the language and tone is surprisingly modern and the suggestions seem fairly reasonable, if not downright freeform. Check out these excerpts:
- “IBM fully respects the legal rights of our employees in all countries in which we operate. In general, what you do on your own time is your affair.”
- “If your blog is self-hosted, use your best judgment and be sure to make it clear that the views and opinions expressed are yours alone and do not represent the official views of IBM.”
Read the rest of the guidelines here.
Topics: Blogging |