Beware The Blabosphere: 7 Simple Rules for Freelancers Who Blog
Got a call today from a client whose confidential project information was leaked via one of their contractor’s blogs. The blogger was crowing about winning the business, with little regard for the proprietary nature of the project.
Imagine if a boutique engineering firm had been handed a top-secret project to help Intel or AMD invent a new, killer chipset… and then blogged about the new gig, for all to see. Not very smart, to be sure.
This is a rarely discussed peril in the Social Media age. Lots of pundits have discussed policies for Employee Blogging. Meantime, lots of experts have weighed in on the pros & cons of outsourcing. But the peril is in the intersection of these two trends: When Contractors Blog.
When the denizens of Freelance Nation join the ranks of a corporation’s “extended enterprise,” they need to be clearly informed – up-front, and (probably) contractually - about appropriate behaviors in the blogosphere.
Borrowing from Charlene Li’s seminal post on Employee Blogging Policies, here’s a way to extend the rules-of-engagement to the freelancers and contractors who work with companies (this could include PR firms, of course):
The 7 Simple Rules of Freelancer Blogging
- Make it clear that the views expressed in the blog are yours alone and do not represent the views of your client.
- Respect the client’s confidentiality and proprietary information.
- Ask your client contact if you have any questions about what is appropriate to include in your blog. Understand when the client asks that topics not be discussed for confidentiality or legal compliance reasons. When in doubt, ASK before posting about anything that could be construed to involve the client.
- Be respectful to the client company, its employees, customers, partners, and even its competitors.
- Ensure that your blogging activity does not interfere with your work commitments to the client.
- When blogging about the client, be respectful and prompt when responding to readers’ comments to that post.
- If responses to the post about the client (via user comments or in the wider blogosphere) may be of concern to the client – particularly negative reactions – it is your responsibility to inform the client immediately and to consult with the client contact prior to responding.
Continue reading here: Everything In Moderation: Social Media Ethical Dilemmas
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