When a few years back the term blog came into public attention, the more serious and sober people, like bigwig corporations, termed it as nothing more than a place where a few loud-mouthed weirdoes express their angst online about almost anything.
Coming back to the present age, corporate honchos no longer regard blogs as a silly and frivolous online page, but have realized their great potential. And now, when one logs on to the Internet, one can witness innumerable business blogs from companies of all sizes.
However, despite all its benefits, corporate blogging has attracted a lot of legal concerns. The main one being that in a rush to create content, corporate blog writers often forget that it is a form of public business communication, and hence subject to various legal regulations and guidelines. Therefore, there are some dos and donts that must be keep in mind while writing corporate blogs to make them legally compliant.
DOs:
Always have a clear idea as to why the company needs a blog and how many blogs are to be hosted. Plus, what the objectives are behind running these blogs.
Be very clear about implementing a strict policy about employee blogs, especially those in which the senior executives also contribute their thoughts. Implementing such stringent policies will help you to prevent litigation and other such problems down the road.
Make it a point that you monitor all the blog postings without fail, so that you know whether the employees are complying with all the rules.
Assign authors to do all the blog postings so that the content posted is written responsibly.
Always make sure that the blog is fresh and updated regularly.
Have a simple and easy to remember blog address, along with equally easy to understand blog terms and conditions posted on the blog.
Before posting the blog, always consider how it will affect the company. Plus, create a provision for archiving all the postings.
Do remember consumer protection laws and ensure that the blog postings are not misleading or that they are not banned under any law.
Also take care of privacy and information security laws.
Do also take care of all the intellectual property laws, and train all your employees on such requirements. Also, as often blogs are copy/pasted off web content, make sure that they comply with fair use principles.
Train you employees on how to create a blog posting that will not invite negative reaction from a third party such as defamation suits, negligent misrepresentation or vicarious liability.
And lastly, be mindful of security laws and train your employees not to post content that can be considered as making material misstatements that can manipulate stock prices, and increase exposure to security fraud charges being made.
DONTs:
Make sure that you dont employ consumer bloggers to post anything without them showing their affiliation with the company. Excessive positive blogging that crosses the line attract the attention of law regulators.
Do not host a blog unless all the employees are trained in posting content responsibly.
Never forget to supervise and monitor the blog periodically for breach of any law or company policy.
Never allow your corporate blog to be a sounding board for your employees where they can say absolutely anything about the company and its products without any accuracy and proof.
Do not permit anyone to publish the secrets of your company, product secrets etc.
And finally, do not terminate employees for posting inappropriate content without giving the matter proper thought, as your reputation can be at stake if the employee files a wrongful termination claim.
Corporate blogging has many benefits and offers a lot of potential to help you generate good vibes with your customers, but only if you dont forsake your common sense and honesty to keep it on the right side of the law.
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Did you know that Oprah Winfrey voted the Açaí Berry as the #1 superfood? Recent endorsements by celebrities like Oprah and Rachael Ray praising Acai Berries has given rise to the number of scam artists trying to seek a profit by taking advantage of this opportunity.
Acai Berry Scams!
There are two Acai Berry scams that I know of right now that you need to watch out for. I may be using the term “scam” a little strongly but I need to still advise you of how people are being taken advantage of.
Acai Berry Pyramid Scheme
The first is an Acai Berry pyramid scheme that you must pay a lot of money upfront to get into the program to sell Acai Berry juice, Acai Berry pills or even some kind of organic extract. The purpose of these programs are to get you to go and recruit other people into the program in which you would earn a referal one.
The people making the real money on these type of multi-level marketing schemes Acai deals or the ones on top of the pyramid scheme. There are variations of this type of program and you need to read the fine print.
Not all MLM programs are scams. There a legitimate Acai Berry MLM money making opportunities available, you just need to do your research before signing up or buying anything from anyone in these type of programs.
Free Acai Berry Pills?
There are a few sites out there with free Acai Berry offers if you just pay for shipping and handling.
What you might not understand about these companies is that when you order a free bottle of Acai pills, you are actually signing up into a trial program that will send you out more pills that you will eventually be billed for.
A lot of people skip reading the fine print and just sign up, or they forget about it after a few months and then realize they have been charged up to hundreds of dollars in some cases.
The thing is, the Acai Berry is certainly an amazing health benefit, and getting a free bottle of acai pills may be an excellent idea. You just need to make sure you understand what you are signing up for.
In most cases people do continue to be a part of the Acai supplement program because they experience the benefits of what the Acai has to offer. You just need to watch out for misleading websites or really small print before signing up for anything.
Most importantly, if you do not want to be billed, remember to cancel your membership.
If you want to try a free bottle of Acai Berry pills, I would recommend this free trial program.