Blog Rules: A business guide to managing policy, public relations, and legal issues (Flynn, 2006)

The discussion surrounding Blog Rules: A business guide to managing policy, public relations, and legal issues by Nancy Flynn highlighted using business blogs as an internal tool for top-down communication.

Flynn suggests that companies treat blogs as archives, ensure corporate policies are in place, and consider the workplace environment created on blogs. Blog posts and comments on corporate websites can contribute to a workplace environment, so companies need to be well-versed in employee policies and procedures.

Employees must also be aware of the corporate policies. Employee bloggers often face firing for the content of their blog (which Flynn calls “being dooced” in honor of an infamous social media human resources case).

“The book is not necessarily a cautionary tale,” says Catherine Whittaker, “but it would cause a business to pause before launching social media efforts.” The goal, says Whittaker, is to help a company think through the issues before they arise.

• Overall Response: If your company is considering a new company blog, this might be a good resource for identifying potential risks.

About Digital Media Book Club: In the growing field of strategic communication, social media rockstars, academics, and digital thinkers are investing time and energy to share their learning with others. In my Digital Strategic Communication class, students in the Master of Arts in Organizational and Strategic Communication program at Queens University of Charlotte are sifting through a variety of texts to discover the embedded wisdom. These are their thoughts and reactions.