Perils and pitfalls of the corporate blog: Legal and ethical issues

Abstract

Blogging is one of todaypsilas most innovative and fastest growing marketing and communication tools. Blogs allow corporations to connect with their stakeholders in a more personal way and thus strengthen their image, brand, and customer loyalty. Comments posted on the corporate blog provide instant feedback, saving these organizations large sums of money otherwise spent on market research. In todaypsilas information economy, it is essential that corporations take advantage of all the new media vehicles, including blogs, to keep up with current market trends and to maintain a competitive advantage. However, for a corporation, blogging poses a number of perils and pitfalls, such as potential damage to the corporate reputation and customer loyalty, as well as legal liability. Conflicts still exist between the First Amendment rights of bloggers and corporationspsila interests. Blogs may be restricted by legal and ethical boundaries to which corporations must abide. This paper presents both the benefits and risks associated with corporate blogging, and provides some interesting examples of success stories, as well as lessons learned. It also offers a compilation of guidelines for effective blogging and suggests topics for future research.