The title says it all.

Maybe a blog isn’t right for your company.  Maybe you don’t have anyone in-house who can step up and be the voice for the firm, the agent of engagement.  But you do need a blog policy, pronto.

Cisco is now in hot water because one of its employees was running an anonymous blog tracking so-called “patent trolls.” When a site is official and transparent, there is no confusion about loyalties or the source of information.  When employees are engaging in underground behavior, their actions can be tied back to you down the road.  That applies to sites they run, administer, or even participate in commenting.

Sun, Yahoo, IBM, and many other companies have publicly available policies.  There are many other resources available to help you craft one.

You may never have a corporate blog.  But you have employees who do, and they comment on things that interest them.  A clear policy can be the firewall that keeps your corporate interests out of the flames.

(Ike Pigott regularly writes at Occam’s RazR)