Hat tip from SiliconBeat. Hard to trace through some of the threads, but both SiliconBeat and uber-independent-blogger Jason Kottke have good accounts (here and here) about what happened at Technorati. Kottke also has commentary on the Technorati community manager’s (Niall Kennedy) apology.
From my vantage point, where things appear to have gone wrong first was the lack of a disclaimer early on in the situation. From there, the wheels spun downhill. Key snips from Niall Kennedy’s post include (note use of term "republish" in the first bullet point):
- "… I republished my original post and Flickr entry and added a disclaimer of individuality thinking it would be enough …"
- "… Technorati received some feedback about the image … I saw the feedback channel did not pass through me …"
- "… I have since realized the imagery was in bad taste, especially to the organizations involved …"
- "… I failed to comprehend the effects of my actions on Technorati. I have
always operated under the assumption that until I reach executive
status at any company I work for I remain an individual voice and do
not represent the organization …"
If that isn’t enough to scare the bejesus out of employees on the edge of deciding whether to blog.
Now I’m not sure whether Technorati has a corporate blogging policy, but Feedster was surely opportunistic to post its new corporate policy. Based on this case, and analysis of a number of other cases, as far as best practices for companies go, it looks like shoring up the corporate blogging policy is #1.
To digress a bit, confidentiality still seems to be a concern with the adoption of corporate blogs (regardless of whether the confidentiality problems already exists without blogs). There’s no evidence that confidentiality became an issue with the Technorati case, but I just got back from a lunch where there was general concern about guarding the corporate fences with respect to confidential information and blogs. The fear is still out there with respect to leakage of information.
Regardless of use of disclaimers, I wonder companies will need to provide blogging platforms to their employees to augment their personal blogs. While this may not circumvent the need for disclaimers, it does seem like it might orient the blogger as to what hat the blogger is currently wearing. Separate blog platforms would be a tougher thing to accomplish culturally though … many people have blended their personal and professional lives.
Although most people tend to focus on the policy aspects only, the communication aspect also seems important. The volume in the blogosphere on the Technorati subject has surely been elevated. I find it a little surprising that it’s hard for me to find any official company postings (by Technorati) or announcements on the matter to date.
Update (3/9/05): An update posted here.
Steve Shu
Managing Director, S4 Management Group