Wake-Up Call

08/10/2004

Wake-up Call! Although blogs, as a business application, continue to attract more awareness, let's not be lulled into thinking that most of the business world "gets it." Although some bloggers are capturing their 15-minutes of fame in the main-stream media, the reasons are not always a cause for celebration. Bloggers are getting fired because they are blogging. Some for running personal blogs others for writing unofficial company blogs.

Sidebar:
18-months after this post was published, I received a request from a woman whose story about being dooced was highlighted in this post. As you might imagine, getting fired from blogging was a very traumatic event in her life. It was very brave of her to post her story at a time when blogging was still very new and we didn't know quite where it would lead.

She has since moved on with her life but of course Google has not. Seems that Diva Marketing is pulling at least top 10 ranking for key words that relate to her story. The search engine reminders "wear on her soul" and she asked that I modify the post. (of course she realizes that the search engines will cache).

I can certainly appreciate ending chapters in one's life to get on to the next one and in respect for her privacy this blog post has been modified.

Lesson Learned: Be careful what you post!

Last autumn, Microsoft contract worker Michael Hanscom was shown the door when the company learned that he had posted a photo on his blog of Apple computers being delivered to a Microsoft loading dock. SLToday

Lessons Learned
1. Some companies consider employees' off-company activities to be a reflection of the organization. [Does this have anything to do with internal branding? Or is it the old "company store" mentality? One has to wonder...]
"When you write in a Web log it's making statements in public." Greg Herbert, a lawyer specializing in free speech and intellectual property with the Greenberg Traurig firm in Orlando, Fla.
2. More education needed within the business community
3. More main stream media coverage needed about the smart work that is happening in the biz blogosphere

A Penny For is "running a couple of questions each day about blogging." It's these types of discussions that will help increase the credibility of biz blogs. Thanks Todd.

| Comments (3) | AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Trackbacks

Trackback url:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451b4b169e200d83456b74469e2

» One Less Blogger from Blogcritics
Guy with a blog "googles" a perspective employer prior to his job interview and [Read More]

Tracked on Aug 30, 2004 11:27:58 PM

Comments

My partner, and significant other, and I are developing a business blogging workshop for our local area...there is increased interest in this new technology...but these issues are serious ones to be aware of. Thank you, Tobi, for keeping us on the upswing, and for digging into the story to get the right links for reference. Fortunately, most of our registrants -- at this time -- are the business owners themselves, so we can address these issues up front. But, I get shivers when I read that an employee is let go for keeping a blog that is not even loosely related to her work. There is much to learn and much to keep an eye on within the blogosphere.

Posted by: Yvonne DiVita on Aug 12, 2004 7:32:33 AM

Just surfed in. Great site! You're doing good work, guys! Thanks;)
[url=http://choco.mail15.com] chocolate [/url]

Posted by: Mirk on Nov 30, 2005 1:46:24 AM

Great site!! Just surfed on in and stopped for longer. Think to put it in my bookmarks.;)
[url=http://work-at-home.mail15.com] work at home [/url]

Posted by: Nobow on Dec 1, 2005 2:32:09 AM

Post a comment