I participate in an electronic community (aka online community, social network) that is aimed at business professionals. It is very likely that you or one or more of your employees are one of the more than 18 million people who are part of this one community or one of many more like it. During the last couple of weeks I noticed and answers are clearly inappropriate. Some members of the community argue that being professional excludes having fun, and all they are trying to do is liven up the community by having fun. What it really comes down to is appropriate vs. inappropriate -- not fun vs. boring agony. Electronic communities, blogs, and email have become a valuable source of information for character references and character assassination? Character assassination is usually done by the hands of the victims themselves by being inappropriate in what they are posting on blogs and social networking sites, or what they are writing in email (take former Governor Spitzer as a current example).

How serious is this? It is a major concern among forward looking privacy advocates and legal professionals. Several people who have posted inappropriate materials on social networking sites have been arrested; terminated from employment; disciplined by employers, and in many more undocumented incidents people have been discriminated against in some form or another because of what they posted. In most cases I have read about, the U.S. Courts have upheld the use of the information posted to web as a character reference, and a valid reason to terminate employees under circumstances where their character outside the workplace reflects upon their character at work. Electronic communities, blogs, and email contain valuable information for employers, partners, prospective clients, customers, law enforcement, investigators, etc.

What are you doing to educate your employees on the risks of participating in online communities and blogs? Many of them are contributing to these public databases at work and at home. Are you educating them on how you respond to questions; what kind of questions to ask; and what they post in their online profiles? In online business communities, they are listing your company name as a component of their profile. If what they write is in poor taste, it not only reflects negatively on their character, but also the character of your company.

Last week, I saw a libelous question posted on a community website. It was libelous because it named a person in what read as being defamatory. Some questions posted lead one down a path they shouldn't be on, for example, one question asked how to revenge a business associate. Most all answers varied from unethical charades to physical violence - with the writes names and business affiliations clearly stated. While one may argue these responses were in jest, they were just as in appropriate and reflect poorly on the author's character and company. Don't answer those questions, for example, a question about whether you have ever been fired, homeless, or how to be retaliatory should be left untouched by your employees. An inappropriate question can ferret out inappropriate answers, and as such the inappropriate answer becomes a searchable blemish the character of your employees and your business.

The best advice I can give in training is write as though your text will appear on the front page of tomorrow morning's newspaper.

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