Corporate Blogging Policies: Sun Microsystems
Publishing a blog when you work for Sun Microsystems is pretty simple. You just have to read its Policy on Public Discourse and to agree with it by clicking on a button. Once this is done, you can publish whatever and whenever you want without management approval. Still, you have to remember to respect the rules you agreed with.
Here is a summary of these basic rules.
- Don’t tell secrets.
- Be interesting.
- Write what you know.
- Obey financial rules.
- Quality matters: use a spell-checker.
- Put a disclaimer on your front page saying you work for Sun, but that you’re speaking for yourself.
- And remember to use your judgment: “using your weblog to trash or embarrass the company, our customers, or your co-workers, is not only dangerous but stupid.”
In other words, these rules are not there to limit the freedom of speech of a Sun employee. They’re more like guidelines telling him to use common sense before writing in public.
