Facing the Ugly Truth

Consider the risks as well as the rewards.

Before you get too excited about blogs’ benefits, here’s the ugly truth about their risks. We’ve all heard blog horror stories, in which blog posts have caused public relations or legal nightmares. But it is possible to avoid many of the mistakes other companies have made. You can do so by taking the following steps:

1. Establish an ironclad blogging policy.

2. Educate all employees.

3. Enforce the policy.

4. Closely monitor the blog.

5. Respond quickly to negative comments.

Basically, it’s all about monitoring and enforcement. You can control many—but definitely not all—risks. Most of the “uncontrollables” involve legal risks that can never be completely eliminated.

Only you can decide whether the benefits of having a corporate blog outweigh the exposure it creates.

The risks include litigation exposure, security violations, e-discovery violations (failing to retain records), reputation assaults and regulatory violations.