A Business Guide to Managing Policy, Public Relations, and Legal Issues

Other Books by Nancy Flynn

Instant Messaging Rules: A Business Guide to Managing Policies, Security, and

Legal Issues for Safe IM Communication, Nancy Flynn, (AMACOM)

E-Mail Rules: A Business Guide to Managing Policies, Security, and Legal Issues

for E-Mail and Digital Communication, Nancy Flynn and Randolph Kahn,

Esq., (AMACOM)

The ePolicy Handbook: Designing and Implementing Effective E-Mail, Internet,

and Software Policies, Nancy Flynn (AMACOM)

Writing Effective E-Mail: Improving Your Electronic Communication, Nancy

Flynn and Tom Flynn (Crisp)

E-Mail Management, Nancy Flynn (Thomson Learning)

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American Management Association

New York • Atlanta • Brussels • Chicago • Mexico City • San Francisco

Shanghai • Tokyo • Toronto • Washington, D. C.

A Business Guide to Managing Policy,

Public Relations, and Legal Issues

Nancy Flynn

Blog Rules

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Special discounts on bulk quantities of AMACOM books are

available to corporations, professional associations, and other

organizations. For details, contact Special Sales Department,

AMACOM, a division of American Management Association,

1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

Tel.: 212-903-8316. Fax: 212-903-8083.

Web site: www.amacombooks.org

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative

information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the

understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal,

accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert

assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person

should be sought.

Although this book is designed to provide accurate and authoritative

information in regard to the subject matter covered, it is sold with the

understanding that the publisher and author are not engaged in rendering

legal, regulatory, technology, or other professional service. The book is

presented as a general overview and guide and does not provide legal,

regulatory, compliance, technology, communications, or security advice or

opinion on any topic contained within. The author of Blog Rules did

not and could not contemplate every situation, problem, or issue that

may arise when blogging, and this book does not purport to be exhaustive

of all situations that may arise when using, implementing, or relying on

blog tools and technologies. If legal advice or other expert assistance is

required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Flynn, Nancy, 1956–

Blog rules : a business guide to managing policy, public relations, and legal issues /

Nancy Flynn.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-10: 0-8144-7355-5

ISBN-13: 978-0-8144-7355-9

1. Business communication—Blogs. 2. Customer relations—Technological

innovations. 3. Blogs. 4. Corporate culture. I. Title.

HD30.37.F59 2006

659.2—dc22 2006002362

2006 Nancy Flynn.

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part,

in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without

the prior written permission of AMACOM, a division of American Management Association, 1601

Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

Printing number

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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To Paul, Bridget, and Tim.

Thank you, as always, for your patience and support.

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CONTENTS

Part 1 The Case for Strategic Blog Management 1

Chapter 1 Why Blog Rules? 3

Chapter 2 Blogs Pose Unprecedented Risks to Business 13

Chapter 3 Start with a Clear Objective: Why Blog? 20

Chapter 4 Proceed with Caution: Self-Assessment for Would-Be

Business Bloggers 26

Part 2 Legal Risks and Regulatory Rules in the Blogosphere:

Why Every Employer Must Establish Blog Policies

and Procedures 37

Chapter 5 Treat Blog Posts as Business Records 39

Chapter 6 Blogs Create Million-Dollar (Sometimes Billion￾Dollar) Legal Headaches for Employers 47

Chapter 7 Shhh! Blogs Put Trade Secrets and Confidential

Information at Risk 54

Chapter 8 Blog Best Practices for Public Companies and

Regulated Firms 58

Part 3 Designing and Implementing Effective Blog Rules

and Policies 65

Chapter 9 Use Written Blog Rules and Policy to Control

Content, Maximize Compliance, and Reduce

Liabilities 67

Chapter 10 Communication Is Key to Compliance: Train, Train,

and Train Some More 77

Part 4 The Blog Is All About Content 83

Chapter 11 Content Can Make—or Break—Your Blog and Your

Business 85

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viii CONTENTS

Chapter 12 Managing and Editing Writers’ Posts and Readers’

Comments 91

Chapter 13 Blog Etiquette, or Netiquette: Twelve Tips to Help

Maximize Civil Discourse 96

Chapter 14 Battling Comment Spam and Splog 103

Part 5 Blog Backlash: Employers Fight Back with Lawsuits

and Pink Slips 109

Chapter 15 Employee-Bloggers Beware 1: Blogging Can Get You

Fired! 111

Chapter 16 Employee-Bloggers Beware 2: Blogging Can Get You

Sued! 116

Chapter 17 How to Blog Without Getting Fired: Eight Tips for

Bloggers Who Want to Keep Their Jobs and Stay out

of Court 120

Part 6 Public Relations in the Blogosphere: Telling Your

Story, Recruiting Customer Evangelists, Positioning

CEO Bloggers 125

Chapter 18 The Rules of Engagement Have Changed: Blogs

Make It Harder to Control Your Message and Your

Brand 127

Chapter 19 Spreading the Word and Selling the Brand Through

Customer Evangelists and Brand Bloggers 133

Chapter 20 Positioning the CEO-Blogger as Opinion Leader 139

Part 7 Managing Your Reputation in the Blogosphere 149

Chapter 21 You’ve Been Blogged: How to Prepare for—and

Respond to—An Attack in the Blogosphere 151

Chapter 22 Best Practices Help Keep Blogstorms at Bay 158

Part 8 Putting Business Blogs to Work: IBM and Edelman

Share Blog Secrets, Strategies, and Success Stories 163

Chapter 23 Q&A with IBM: Blog Central Keeps IBM Employees

at the Forefront of Technology 165

Chapter 24 IBM Blogging Policy and Guidelines 171

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CONTENTS ix

Chapter 25 Q&A with Edelman 179

Chapter 26 Edelman’s Principles and Code of Conduct:

Maintaining a Weblog 184

Appendix A: Thirty-Six Blog Rules: Best Practices to Keep You

out of Court with Your Corporate Reputation Intact 187

Appendix B: Sample Blog Policies 191

Notes 199

Glossary of Blog Legal and Technical Terms 215

Index 221

About the Author 227

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Sincere thanks to those who generously contributed encouragement and

support, expertise and information, time and contacts to help make this

book possible.

This book would not be possible without the generous gifts of time

and encouragement from my husband, Paul Schodorf, and our daughter,

Bridget Flynn Schodorf. As always, thank you for your patience and sup￾port!

A special thanks to my research assistant Tim Schodorf, for his on￾target delivery of valuable information and leads.

Sincere thanks to the following industry experts, professionals, and cor￾porate executives who generously provided time and expertise to help

make Blog Rules a success: Rick Barry, publisher, MyBestDocs.com; Tim

Bray, web technologies director, Sun Microsystems; Christopher Byrne,

publisher, ControlsCaddy.com; David Carter, CTO, iUpload; Brian Doyle,

corporate affairs director, IBM; Priscilla Emery, president, e-Nterprise Ad￾visors; Casey Flinn, sr. product marketing specialist, St. Bernard Software;

Stephen Fronk, attorney, Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rab￾kin; Jennifer Gazin, associate, LaunchSquad; Christine Halvorson, chief

blogger, Stonyfield Farm; Christopher Hannegan, employee engagement

practice director, Edelman; Doug Isenberg, attorney, The GigaLaw Firm;

Janet Johnson, VP communications, Marqui; Denise Klarquist, VP market￾ing, Cheskin; Stuart Levi, attorney, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom;

Richard Marshall, attorney, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham;

Brad Meador, operations VP, ClearContext; Matt Smith, COO, Steve

Uhring, sales VP, Amy Dugdale, communications manager, LiveOffice;

David Snead, president, W. David Snead, P.C.; Donna Tocci, pubic rela￾tions manager, Kryptonite; Steve Wilson, sr. director global web communi￾cations, McDonald’s.

Thank you to American Management Association (AMA) for their

ongoing support of my books and The ePolicy Institute through joint

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xi

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xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

programs including AMA/ePolicy Institute surveys, forums, and Webi￾nars.

I am grateful to AMACOM books for permission to excerpt material

from my previous AMACOM titles Instant Messaging Rules, E-Mail Rules,

and The ePolicy Handbook. I am particularly grateful to Executive Editor

Jacquie Flynn for her belief in this book, her patience, and her help in

making it happen.

Finally, thank you to the clients, partners, and friends of The ePolicy

Institute, www.epolicyinstitute.com, for their ongoing support of our ser￾vices and programs, including employee training programs, speaking ser￾vices, expert witness services and litigation consulting, workplace surveys,

and policy consulting services.

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PART 1

THE CASE FOR STRATEGIC

BLOG MANAGEMENT

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