Blogosphere updates: on the Technorati incident (which I previously posted on) and blogging in the workplace in general:

David Sifry, founder and CEO of blog content-aggregator Technorati, has expressed support to Niall Kennedy, a Technorati Community Manager, over the recent incident involving the company’s alleged censoring of employee blogs.  To quote Mr. Sifry’s post in his Sifry’s Alerts weblog:

We at Technorati support Niall 100% … he is

publicly working through the issues of understanding that in his role

of Community Manager … [his] actions have repercussions

on the company, not only to his own personal reputation. We all make

mistakes – and we in fact are trying to build a culture where trying

new things is encouraged, which means we’re going to make more than our

fair share of mistakes – but we hold ourselves accountable, take the

criticism, and then move on.

Further quoting Mr. Sifry:

… we do

not censor people’s blogs, and we take the censorship allegation

extremely seriously. I actively encourage our employees to blog, and to

express their opinions. However, many readers do not make as clear a

distinction between personal and work lives as many experienced

bloggers do, and will view a provocative image on a blog in the worst

possible light, especially when presented by the company’s Community

Manager. Niall made the decision himself to post the things he posted,

when he posted them. Other than the clear case of trademark violation

(we asked him to remove the pictures that violated trademark, in order

that we not be sued) his actions and postings have been completely his

own, including his decision to take down his original post.

(emphases are mine – JABR)

I do commend Mr. Sifry for Technorati’s support for Mr. Kennedy, and

the company’s stand on blogging.  I believe that this is the

correct way by which employers should address concerns on employee blogging:

• Encourage employees to express their opinions, but make them fully accountable for their actions and words;


• Make sure that employees are aware of the possible repercussions
  
  of their online postings on the public’s perception and corporate
  
  image, and the possible consequences thereof (particularly for those with negative feedback).

Given that blogging may be considered not as mature a medium as

other sources of information (but a force to be reckoned with,

nonetheless), one cannot expect readers, especially those new to

blogging, to have a firm grasp of the distinction between personal and

official views.  Hence there is always the responsibility on the

part of a personal publisher to make sure his work is not

misinterpreted and mis-attributed.

I came across this update through my Bloglines feed of Jason Kottke’s weblog, which has

quite a good coverage of the issue, having several

links and trackbacks (which is exponential, given the further unique

links and trackbacks of linking bloggers).  I have also added Sifry’s Alerts to Bloglines, and the blog should appear under my links henceforth.  Of course, there’s my recent post, with a very interesting reader comment expressing views on blogging and the workplace, with my response thereto.

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