Learning Conversations

If you self-publish, whether on a blog, a Youtube channel, on Twitter or even books and ebooks, then who owns the brand that you're building? You, or the organisation you're associated with?

The BBC and Phonedog have recently had to address this, with regards to Twitter accounts "owned" by personalities within their organisations.

It's a difficult question to answer without a specific context, but I'd like to offer a few guiding principles that might help protect both the individual and their organisation. As always, I'd welcome any feedback to help refine these...

For the individual

1. Don't mention the organisation you are associated with anywhere on your personally published materials
2. Put a disclaimer on your materials along the lines of:

   Disclaimer: The contents of this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer nor any other organisation with which I am associated.

3. Don't publish anything that is going to cause any embarrassment to your organisation. If in doubt - ask before publishing. It's very hard to retract things.

For the organisation

1. Use more than one author on your blog, Twitter account etc
2. Don't use an individual's name on your blog/Twitter account unless you have a clear agreement with the individual that they will lose control of these accounts if they move to a different organisation. This is especially true for public systems like Twitter.
3. Have a clear distinction between personal publishing and corporate publishing, with policies that release individuals to publish, whilst protecting the organisation.