Most U.S. firms have no policies on blogs
Most U.S. companies have no policy on blogs maintained by their employees, even though a new report says they can be factors in a firm's image.
The public-relations firm Edelman and blog-portal provider Intelliseek Friday issued a report on the growing number of employee blogs and how management is dealing with them -- or not.
The results of the study showed 70 percent of companies had no policy or guidelines governing blogs.
Rather than consider them to be a nuisance, companies are cautioned that outsiders can let their decisions be influenced by what employees say about the way their company is run or its products.
"We have clear evidence that consumers and other important stakeholders make decisions about products based largely on what a company's employees say about them," said Christopher Hannegan, senior vice president at Edelman. "Now blogs provide these same employees with access to a mass audience."
Not all blogs are hostile, however. The report found a large number of blogs and blog postings sticking up for companies and individual managers.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International
