Forrester's Anti-social Blogging Policy

0 Comment(s) | Posted Feb 8, 2010 by Peter Wylie

Peter Wylie

Technology and market research firm Forrester has issued a new policy requiring its analysts to move any personal research blogs under the corporate umbrella.  To this point, several Forrester analysts have had personal research blogs, some of which have proven quite popular.  The company is arguing that the IP its analysts create on personal blogs should accrue to the company, rather than the individuals.

The move by Forrester is a very backward one in my opinion.  The company already lost two of its most promising social media analysts, Charlene Li and Jeremiah Owyang, to private practice.  The move to diminish personal branding through blogging is not likely to help the company hire other talented people in this sphere.  Analysts gain credibility and have more open discussions on personal blogs, and they can espouse views that may not line up exactly with the corporate line.  The risk to the company is minimal in these instances, because of the distance placed between the business and the individual analyst by having a personal research blog.

Other companies experimenting with blogging for business should absolutely not follow in Forrester’s footsteps here.  Setting a reasonable blogging policy, and then letting employees share their thoughts on their blogs within those parameters helps expand the company’s sphere of influence.  Mandating that their blogging activity take place on the corporate account is not likely to convince people to get more excited about the possibility.

This is not to say that fostering a blogging culture or having employees blog for the company is a bad move.  I object to requiring that they do so on the corporate site if they are going to do so.  I’m sure others will disagree and say it’s well within Forrester’s right to require its analysts to share their thoughts where Forrester will get some benefits too, since they are paid for the insights they produce.

I think this is an out-dated way of doing business that hearkens back to when control was the objective and a reasonable expectation.  Open networks and systems make fighting for proprietary ownerships and oversight a losing battle.  Forrester should allow its analysts to continue blogging under their personal accounts, and other businesses should do them same for their employees.  The promotional and public relations benefits the company receives for doing so will make it a worthwhile decision.

Filed under: Blog-related, Emerging Media, Entrepreneurship, Small Business