Blogs have completely revolutionized the way that we communicate in a professional setting. Using the internet allows us to communicate using smaller amounts of time and larger amounts of information, but with the use of blogs also comes responsibility (Yeganeh, Bauback, and Darren Good, 2011). When using blogging in a professional and even non-professional setting a certain set of ethical guidelines should accompany the blog post because: the lines between business and personal blogging are beginning to be blurred, and there are legal and non-legal repercussions to reckless blog posting, and ethical guidelines allow the blog-post viewer to be protected from advertising and other undesirable content.
Information on the internet is literally so easily accessible that almost anything that you are looking for can be found in just a few simple clicks. Since the internet has progressed and continues to progress the line between what is personal information and what can be accessed or perceived as professional information on the internet has began to blur. Since most personal blogging websites (such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.) can be viewed by future employers and other business savvy people, I think it is responsible to accompany some set (whether loose or strict) of ethical guidelines to personal blog entries because the blog poster may never know whether or not their content is being viewed by a third party.
The internet used purely for personal use is subject to a wide array of different uses and guidelines all of which are subjective to the person’s own set of personal guidelines and decisions, but in a corporate or business setting there are various sets of legal and non-legal risks that accompany blog posts (Strother, Judith A., Zohra Fazal, and Melinda Millsap, 2009). Communicating certain types of information in a corporate setting can lead to serious consequences. Blog journalists in corporate settings are liable to the same rights that govern traditional journalists making them or their companies liable if they post comments on internal rumors (Strother, Judith A., Zohra Fazal, and Melinda Millsap, 2009).
How many times have you read an internet blog and half-way through the blog realized it was an advertisement? I have done this a lot, and it is always frustrating. There are laws governing the advertisement legality of internet blog posting, and for good reasons (Smuddle, 2005). The audience or blog-viewer can become victim of the harsh reality of the internet. There is a lot of content broadcasted across the internet that many people would find offensive and even harmful. It should be in the interest of the blog-viewer and blog-writer to be mindful of the way certain content on the internet affects other people.
Sources cited:
Strother, Judith A., Zohra Fazal, and Melinda Millsap. (2009). Legal and ethical issues of the corporate blogosphere. IEEE Transactions On Professional Communication, 52(3), 243-253.
Smudde, Peter M. “Blogging, Ethics And Public Relations: A Proactive And Dialogic Approach.” Public Relations Quarterly 50.3 (2005): 34-38. Business Source Complete. Web. 29 Aug. 2014.
Yeganeh, Bauback, and Darren Good. “Metaphorically Speaking: Micro-Blogging As A Way To Reframe Workplace Interaction.” OD Practitioner 43.3 (2011): 12-17. Business Source Complete. Web. 29 Aug. 2014