How to Blog – and keep your job!

Blogging is now a massive communication tool for individuals or even businesses to express their points of view, or discuss matters that are important to them.

However, this morning I read of a British secretary allegedly sacked from her job in Paris over an internet blog diary. This is the latest in a growing line of people paying the heavy price for blogging incorrectly. She blogged anonymously under the pseudonym name about life, love and her work. She claimed she was dismissed for bringing the company into disrepute by naming it in her blog.

With guidelines hazy on where the line can be drawn between an individual’s private online writings and their public work persona, I feel that more such cases can be expected.

So how should individuals - and companies - pick their way safely through the potential minefield of blogging?

Struan Robertson, a technology lawyer for Pinsent Masons and editor of Out-Law.com, a website offering legal advice on internet issues, admitted to the BBC that it is a difficult path to tread.

“To work, a blog needs spontaneity and oxygen, not censorship,” he says. ”It needs to bring out someone’s personality - and that means keeping the legal department at arm’s length.” To this end, bloggers must avoid defamation, respect copyright and take care not to spill trade secrets. “A blogger could unwittingly knock millions off a company’s value by making a market announcement in a blog exchange,” Mr Robertson points out.

One problem is that bloggers writing personal journals, as opposed to bloging on their company’s site, often believe using a pseudonym will be enough to protect their own - and their employer’s - anonymity.

However, many firms take the view that a member of staff recognisable in any way will be seen by readers as representing the company.

Thus with a Blog, also comes the responsibility to the individual writing about a topic or company. Unfortunately we have seen many blogs when someone is unhappy about a product or service and have then named and shamed the business in question. This is not the way to use a blog to promote your business legally or efficiently.

Co-Net Top Blog Tips:

1. Remember you can never be entirely sure who is reading the blog.

2. Don’t rely on a pseudonym to preserve anonymity.

3. Be aware of the dangers of defamation.

4. Respect copyright and intellectual property laws.

5. Avoid jokes which could provoke a sexual or racial harassment claim.

6. Have a disclaimer on your blog to protect you.

7. Link your Blog to your website and other websites like Face book & Twitter

If you would like to add a blog to your business or discuss an existing blog, please contact us at info@designbyconet.com.