In a post about an experiment in collaborative learning, Manish Mohan wondered about guidelines and policies, especially for things like blogs that reach outside a corporate firewall.

Commenter Ray Sims posted a link to guidelines at Toby Ward’s blog, which in turn links to IBM’s blogging guidelines. Here’s a slight reworking of IBM’s executive summary, rewritten to apply to any company/organizational blogger:

• Follow our business conduct guidelines.
• Remember, it’s your opinion, not ours.
• When you blog about us, identify yourself.
• If you blog or comment outside the organization about the organization, include a disclaimer like “The posts are my own; they don’t necessarily reflect [the organization’s] positions, policies, or opinions.”
• Respect copyright and fair use.
• Don’t divulge confidential or proprietary information (ours, or another organization’s).
• Don’t cite or reference suppliers, partners, or clients without their permission.
• Respect your audience.
• Find out who else is blogging on the topic, and cite them.

I liked the last two points so much, I’ll put them in verbatim:

Don’t pick fights, be the first to correct your own mistakes, and don’t alter previous posts without indicating that you have done so.

Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective.

Any good examples of blogs at work?