Blogs are hot, but corporate employee blogging guidelines are not. Recent studies show that blogs, otherwise known as online journals or weblogs, are one of the fastest growing and potentially most important business communication tools to come along since the Internet. But most companies face liability risk, because they lack blogging policies for their employees.

Nearly 70 percent of companies do not have policies or guidelines for employee bloggers, according to a joint white paper released this fall by the global PR firm Edelman and marketing intelligence company Intelliseek. Blogging guidelines give employees clear parameters around such activities as: divulging confidential information, posting inappropriate content and personal blogging while on the job. Copyright guidelines that explain the proper way to post third-party content, such as photos and written work from other blogs and Web sites, can help to reduce a company’s liability risk as well.

“What successful employee blogging boils down to is common sense,” said Christopher Hannegan, senior vice president and director of Edelman’s Employee Engagement Practice. “It’s common sense on behalf of the employee who’s blogging and on behalf of the company that’s trying to get their arms around it. Unfortunately, everybody has a different version of what common sense is, and that’s why guidelines are helpful.”

Blogging policies and guidelines are becoming more important as blogs and their readership continue to grow. At last count, blog search engine Technorati reported that there are more than 19 million blogs with 70,000 new sites emerging every day. Pew Internet & American Life Project reports that 25 percent of Internet users say they now read blogs. Even the media is tuning in more frequently to blog content. A study by the international marketing communications firm Euro RSCG Magnet and Columbia University indicates that more than 50 percent of journalists use blogs regularly.

Once considered by some to be an outlet for company bashing by disgruntled employees, blogs have increasingly become an integral part of organizations’ communications strategies. Hannegan said he was surprised by the results of Edelman’s research on the reality of blog content. “I went into this expecting that employees who were blogging had an ax to grind and were doing so to get back at their companies. But we found that the tone of people blogging about their job or their boss or their company was positive versus negative by a four to one margin.”

He encouraged organizations to consider “how they can create a supportive environment for employee bloggers, create common expectations and figure out how to use employee bloggers to help their companies protect their reputations and build relationships with customers.” For example, bloggers who participated in a recent Technorati survey indicated that when seeking information about a company or its products, they prefer interacting with company employees who blog more than product managers or company executives.

Communicating through blogs requires a new way of thinking. “A company’s first reaction when something needs to be corrected in the public record is to send their CEO or their head of PR,” said Hannegan. “They would never in a million years dream of sending an employee who is very far down on the totem pole and is making $40,000 a year, yet that’s exactly the person who has the most credibility with bloggers.”

Paul Beaulieu, IBM senior Internet strategy consultant for the Boston Innovation Center and an employee blogger, said it won’t be long before corporate blogging policies are commonplace. IBM’s policy and guidelines actually were written by bloggers.

Some of IBM’s guidelines instruct employees to:

• Identify themselves and indicate their role at IBM when blogging about IBM or matters related to the company.
• Include a disclaimer when publishing a blog or posting to one to clarify that the opinions they state are their own and not necessarily those of IBM.
• Respect copyright
• Protect proprietary information

In addition to creating guidelines for employees, Beaulieu suggests that companies that host blogs follow two important rules: feature writers who are open, honest and personable, and dedicate adequate resources to ensure the blog is updated regularly.

“It’s like anything else in life. I’m not going to build a relationship with someone who ignores me,” said Beaulieu. “If you’re to do this right, you have to have people who listen, respond, pay attention and look at feedback. That’s important. Otherwise, it doesn’t add any value. It’s almost worse than not doing it at all.”

Additional information on corporate blogging:

• Blogs Will Change Your Business(BusinessWeek Online)
• Birth of the Business Blog (Line 56 E-Business Executive Daily)
• Why there’s No Escaping the Blog (Fortune.com)

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The Library of Congress has assembled 19 copyright experts to recommend possible updates to Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Act. The Section 108 Study Group’s mission is to assess whether the 1976 law’s limitations on the use, distribution and preservation of copyrighted content in libraries and archives should be rewritten to accommodate today’s digital technologies.

“We are extremely hopeful that we can reach some consensus and, if not, come close so that we can try to modernize section 108 to match what libraries are doing in the digital age and, at the same time, respect the rights of rightsholders,” said Lolly Gasaway, director of the law library and professor of law at the University of North Carolina, and also co-chair of the study group.

Section 108 contains a lengthy set of narrow circumstances in which libraries and archives may reproduce, distribute and otherwise use copyrighted content without the express authorization of the rightsholder. Among the circumstances addressed by Section 108 are: copying by and for library patrons, interlibrary loans, and the preservation of older or damaged material. Gasaway reported some of the more controversial topics the group plans to take up include digital preservation and the use of copyrighted content in electronic reserves.

The Section 108 Study Group is chaired by Gasaway and Richard Rudick, former senior vice president and general counsel of John Wiley and Sons and current member of Copyright Clearance Center’s Board of Directors.

The group is expected to deliver their recommendations to the Library of Congress by mid-2006. Click here for more information.

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