Social Media, Blogs, and Social Networking in the Workplace

Additional HR Resources Blog Control Learn your options and legal limitations for addressing employee blogs Employers Beware The workplace risks that blogs pose, and how you can react appropriately Blog Recruiting Recruiting top talent with blogs, podcasts, and other social media Reduce Legal Risks of Blogs Strategies for monitoring and securing your company’s online communications Computer Sabotage Protect your employees and systems from rage Protecting Trade Secrets Discover state-of-the-art information protection techniques Defamation in the Workplace How blogging and other communications can invite costly defamation lawsuits Electronic Issues for Supervisor Help your supervisors counter the risks of rampant employee blogging and more State Requirements What your state lawmakers have to say on this issue Federal Laws and Regulations Advanced warning of new legislation and other federal developments

What started as online journals kept by a few people at their leisure and posted online for public viewing, have become a new way of communicating for people and businesses. Blogs (short for web log) have changed from people merely writing about their lives to focusing on specific topics that can turn personal when desired, but are intended to be more informative or gossipy than introspective or cathartic. The fact that nearly every major news outlet devotes a section of its website to the blogs of people inside and outside the organization is evidence of their functionality and significance.

Blogging tools for Employment Law Letter subscribers
What's your HR IQ on Electronic Workplace?

Many companies have remained blog-friendly to personal blogs despite the potential for disaster they wield. Blogs can foster interoffice communication and can be a highly effective, inexpensive means of mass marketing. On the other hand, any employee with a computer can be easily distracted from work by posting personal opinions or reading blogs during company time. As a result, productivity and performance can suffer. The potential for trouble significantly increases when your office blogger -- on or off the clock --starts posting content on the Web.

Unlike traditional print media, blogs have no external checks or balances. Angry and disgruntled employees have much to say about their employers, often factually inaccurate, and now have an audience of potentially millions of readers. They may think that writing under a pseudonym gives them anonymity, so they leave nothing to the readers' imagination while venting their workplace frustrations online. They may post comments that disparage your company, defame your company's image, harass other employees, or leak your company's trade secrets and other sensitive information.

Because blogs have the potential to reach a worldwide audience in an instant, your office blogger's antics could have an immediate and disastrous effect on your company's business. Wells Fargo, Google, Delta Air Lines, CNN, and a long list of other major companies have already fired or disciplined employees for what they said about work on blogs.

Policy decisions

If your company decides to implement a workplace blogging policy, you should consider the following:

• Limit blogging that interferes with work commitments, or prohibit blogging during work time (or other specified hours).
• Prohibit employees from disclosing any information that's confidential or proprietary to the company or any third party that has disclosed information to the company, including concepts or developments that the employees produce related to the company's business. Refer employees to your company's policy for guidance on what constitutes confidential information.
• Inform employees that the company may request that they temporarily confine their website or blog commentary to topics unrelated to the company if you believe that it's advisable or necessary to comply with securities regulations or other laws.
• Caution employees that a breach of the blogging policy could result in discipline up to and including termination.

Learn more about employment law, human resources practices, and social media at the day-long HR' s Social Media Virtual Summit

View all HR topics

Related articles on Blogging and the Workplace featured in HR Hero Line

• Responding to Employees' Personal Social Networking
  (West Virginia Employment Law Letter, September 2009)
• Why Employers Can't Ignore Social Networking Sites
  (New York Employment Letter, September 2009)
• Corporate Tweeting Made Easy
  (Delaware Employment Law Blog, July 2009)
• Facebook Privacy Settings: A How-To Guide
  (Delaware Employment Law Blog, May 2009)
• The Facebook Generation: Social Networking and the Hiring Process
  (West Virginia Employment Law Letter , February 2009)
• Employees Hold the Key to Employers' Data Security
  (Colorado Employment Law Letter, February 2008)
• Employee Communications in the Social Media Age
  (Virginia Employment Law Letter, September 2007)
• Navigating Blogs in the Workplace: Guide for Employers
  (Delaware Employment Law Letter , March 2006)

HR Tools for Blogging

• Sample Policy - Confidential and Proprietary Information
• Sample Policy - Use of Company Property and Materials
• Sample Policy - Use of Computers and the Internet