A newly published report on blogs from Edelman and Intelliseek (of Blogpulse fame), “Talking From The Inside Out: The Rise of Employee Bloggers” has found that nearly 70 percent of companies have no policies or guidelines in place for employee bloggers, and that not having a policyt is a “clear liability for both companies and bloggers themselves.”
Other findings in the report:
– up to 9 percent of people posted to blogs (others or their own) to comment on or defend their
employer.
– Over a recent six-month period, blog postings with the phrase or derivative of “love my job” outnumbered those with “hate work” by about 2-to-1 and outnumbered those with “hate my boss” by about 4-to-1.
– Employee blogs have helped enhance the reputation of employers in many instances but have also hurt reputations in the case of several high-profile firings
“We have clear evidence that consumers and other important stakeholders make decisions about products and brands based largely on what a company’s employees say about them,” said Christopher Hannegan Senior Vice President and Director of Edelman’s Employee Engagement Practice. “Now blogs provide these same employees with access to a mass audience as never before. So companies need to understand that two powerful forces are beginning to converge in way that will have a direct and growing impact on their business.”
The report is available for download from the Intelliseek site here.
