It's all got me wondering about something. More people are blogging and more people are reading blogs. It's one of those things that's still new enough that the lines are somewhat blurred, and one has to guess what crosses them and what doesn't. It's also one of those things that has been around long enough now for people to start figuring this stuff out.

A while back, I wrote this:

Businesses need to realize that their employees are going to blog whether they want them to or not. Just like employees are going to send personal emails and make personal phone calls from time to time on the job. Companies should come up with policies on blogging, make them known company-wide, and spell them out for every new employee. In fact, giving employees blogs through the company might be a good idea, and might generate some inexpensive PR.

But what should a corporate policy on blogging look like? That's something I never quite got back to wrapping my brain around, but seeing this list of people who were fired for blogging got me thinking about it again.

Well, it depends a lot on the employer. Some employers might opt for a "no blogging at all, business or personal, etc." It would be laughable at best, because it would have the same effect as "no personal phone calls" and "no personal emails." Everyone knows these things are going to happen in the workplace. It's inevitable. It's a matter of degrees, and shouldn't be an issue unless it reaches a point at which it impedes performance. The same should apply to blogging, in some fasion. If an employee spends all day on his/her blog, and neglects his/her work, then it's obviously a problem. If an employee blogs and manages to do his/her job, then all that might be necessary is to warn against "excessive" blogging, as is often done with personal emails and phone calls.

A "no blogging" policy all but ensures that down the line an employee will blog and will—if the policy is to have any meaning at all—will have to be fired. And it's just possible that the circumstances will not necessarily show the employer in the best light, though they may be entirely justified. As I said earlier, more people are blogging and more people are reading blogs. An employee fired for blogging will more than likely blog about his/her termination, and that story will make its way around the internet from blog to blog, until employer establishes a reputation and winds up on a list of "blogophobic" companies. As blogging becomes more common and more popular, such a list might not be the most desireable place for a company's name to appear.

Then there's the matter of content. It probably doesn't need to be said that employees should be very selective when it comes to blogging about things related to their employers, if they blog about such things at all. That it probably doesn't need to be said means that it actually must be said, because if it isn't the day will come when an employee called on the carpet because of something on his/her blog points out that it wasn't said. And though we live in the era of at-will-employment, it's can still get messier than anyone wants to have to deal with. Spell it out, and invite your employees to come to you with questions if they're not sure. They can only do this if you have a blogging policy and you're open about it.

It's easy to think that what you write on your blog is fairly anonymous. But the truth is, unless you blog anonymously, then it isn't. Blog about your employer, or people that you work with, and I promise you the hairdresser of the sister of the best friend of the woman who's in the bookgroup of your boss's wife's next door neighbor will read it, and it will find it's way back to the original subject. It's best to assume that there are no degrees of separation if you put your name and your face on your blog. And even if you blog under a pseudonym, enough identifiable details can still land you in an uncomfortable meeting that involves a lot of squirming on your part. If you should come out of it with you're job intact, don't breath a sigh of relief because you are still being watched and peoplewill be waiting for the other shoe to drop. And you'll have to be careful not to slip-up and drop it.

From an employee's point of view, no matter what the case, these days it's better to be circumspect about what one blogs, and to assume that whatever you blog about will eventually be read by someone you know, or someone who knows you.

For employers, assume that your employees are going to blog, and establish clear guidelines to guide them should they choose to do so. Make the penalties for not abiding by the policy clear, such as under what circumstances an employee will be warned and under what circumstances an employee will be terminated where blogging is concerned. And, of course, one of the best things to do is to set an example by starting a company blog if appropriate.

All of the above would seem to be common sense. But the reality is that much of what we consider common sense today wasn't always such. It had to be invented as circumstances and developments required, and then spread around to the point of becoming common. This is my humble contribution to furthering that process.