[If anyone is aware of a fairly recent XML-DEV thread on this topic, please let me know - I did not find one through searching the archives]

Happy New Year All,

The purpose of this message is solicit thoughts/experience/advice regarding corporate policies on blogging. I'll start from the top:

I have long thought about starting a blog, and decided that I would not do so unless I was 100% clear on my company's policy regarding employee blogging. I did some internal research (PR, Legal, etc.), and found out that my company does not yet have any policy on blogging (which is not surprising as we are primarily a consulting firm rather than a vendor).

So I have decided to write my company's blog policy - and then filter it through Legal, PR, and various other internal resources prior to being published.

So my general question is: What are some things that people believe should be taken into account in such a policy? (please note that this is not the same as asking for your own employer's policy - please do not divulge any proprietary information here or directly to me).

For example, the following questions/considerations come to my mind:

- Should employees be encouraged/allowed to state their corporate affiliation in their blog? - What if an employee states a position in a "hot" area (such as SOA) that - even if unintentionally - conflicts with the corporation's message for that area? - What if such a position conflicts with another employee that is writing on the same topic in their own blog? (i.e. can such things be realistically monitored?) - Should employees be required to place a uniform disclaimer on their blog that states "The opinions here are of my own..." etc. - What types of "violations" (if one may use that term) can be considered so severe that they should lead to termination of an employee? - How does one balance between rights such freedom of speech, and the need of a corporation to put forth a consistent, solid message? - Any others?

Thanks so much, Joe

Joseph Chiusano Associate Booz Allen Hamilton

700 13th St. NW, Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20005 O: 202-508-6514 C: 202-251-0731 Visit us online@ http://www.boozallen.com <http://www.boozallen.com/>