Is Blogging Anonymity Ever OK?
We have a current debate going on right now within HP’s Community Counsel and I thought I would pose our question to you for your input.
Normally I’m a bit of a blogging purist. NO GHOST BLOGGING. Always use your real name, always use your full name, no pseudonyms, aliases etc.
But we just had a new blog request that made me step back and re-asses my thinking. I find this a useful practice to do whenever I start getting an emotional knee-jerk reaction to a question (which I did this time).
We have a blog request from a group within HR and the proposed author is very hesitant to use her full name. Being a mother with small children she is very worried about having too much private information out there and doesn’t want what information that is out there too closely associated with what she does for a living.
Since she is in HR she is also concerned about backlash from prospective job candidates that don’t get hired or about the potential deluge of recruiter emails she would get (she already gets a large amount). Because of all of these factors (and a self professed irrational fear) she wants to just use her initials.
It’s not exactly anonymous. It’s not a pseudonym. Is it OK to just use your initials when blogging?
The general group consensus initially was no. But she came back again and sincerely asked us to reconsider. She really sees the value that having a blog from her group would bring to HP and generally seems to care.
We’re discussing it next week in our council meeting but I figured I would see what you guys thought.
Photo by Mike Licht
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Is the blog post her own view, or a departmental view? Is it not sufficient to sign the blog “HR Department”?
The beauty of Web 2.0 is personalization. I think the same thing applies to anonymity. In most cases, I would agree that being anonymous is bush league. But in the case you presented, I can see her point. I think it boils down to this - intent. She is not trying to hide behind anything. I can see the same rule applying to military, legal, medical - any area with confidentiality issues. The cool thing is that she can still have conversations - which is the entire purpose of blogging.
maybe someone who feels more comfortable using their real name should write the post.
Hi Michael,
My gut tells me that if she wants to blog on behalf of HP, she should use her real name. If she wants to start her own personal blog, more power to her. I would avoid a ghost blog, too — it’s her opinion not the person who is willing to post it for her.
Stick with your instincts! No name, no blog!
Would she feel comfortable with using “Tina J” (for example) instead of “TJ”? That might be a workable compromise.
Totally anonymous blogging isn’t great if it’s supposed to be a voice for a company. Unless, however, it is made clear that the company has signed off on it and the people that signed off on it are publicly known. That way the public can see that the content is tacitly accepted by the people backing it.
For more personal blogging, sometimes there is definitely a good reason for it. There are some folks whose opinions can really offend some other people, or draw the attention of internet stalkers. There have already been a number of blogs that were taken down because of threats from commentators. Witness the kerfuffle that ensued last year when tech blogger Kathy Sierra attracted the attention of some very hateful internet stalkers. She quit blogging over a year ago and has not updated since.
To be honest, I think that the anonymity of commentators rather than bloggers is the problem. It’s usually the anonymous comments that generate the most venom. Penny Arcade put it best (warning, adult language):
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/
For those of you that may think my posting with a handle means anonymity, don’t be silly; I link to my blog here. It’s a personal blog, and my real name and profession are on my About page. The admin of this blog can see my email address and my static home IP address. The reason I use this handle is because I like it and it sets me apart. My name is somewhat common on the net because there are several other more prominent people with the same name.
–Scott Raymond
I second Rachel’s suggestion. I wouldn’t think too much of it if someone posted on a company HR blog with just a first name or a first name plus initial, assuming the content is going to be in the “company voice.”
I think it’s a case by case thing. My feelings would probably be different if it was a marketing or PR blog. Or if we were talking about leaving comments on other blogs as an HP rep.
Of course it’s OK. Depends on what kind of blogging you’re talking about (personal, corporate, etc.) and what the aim and goal of the blog is.
I’d recommend against it if ANY part of the goal of the blog is to build community, or put a human face on a company.
Building community comes from people making connections with each other in a human voice (cue the Cluetrain music). And that’s impossible if one or more of the parties is anonymous.
So anonymous blogging is good for, say, starting a gossip blog, or anything else where you don’t really care about community or connecting with people.
And “anonymous” is completely different from “fake” - that is, creating a blog persona, writing as another person, or a fake character. That’s almost NEVER OK. History has shown what will happen if you try that…
Generally I’d agree that it should be full names for a corporate blog, but I don’t think this has to be an end-all-be-all type rule.
I would avoid initials though, it’s unfriendly and looks like you’re trying to hide. A first name only (e.g. Michael), or first name and last initial (e.g. Michael V.) would be better and should be considered.
After all, it can be hard to find good bloggers and you shouldn’t rule out a strong voice because they may be a little internet-shy.
@Michael
Yes, I agree. The Yahoo! Mail Community Manager does this; and I think it’s generally accepted as common practice.
http://ymailupdates.com/blog/
Wow, great comments everyone. I’ve been sitting back listening, not wanting to jump in too early (I have a tendency to do that). I really appreciate it. As you can see there are no perfect answers and unfortunately that’s one of the problems/opportunities of social media. I think where you typically see success in social media is where companies have thought through the issues like this first. i think where you tend to see social media failure is where people make decisions based off of assumptions. I don’t know how our group conversation will go next week, but I’ll definitely share all of your thoughts with the group.