Disclosure Best Practices Checklist 3: Blogger Relations

Focus: Best practices for how businesses interact with external blogs and bloggers.

When communicating with blogs or bloggers on behalf of my company, I will:

1. Disclose who I am, who I work for and any other relevant affiliations from the very first encounter.
2. Proactively ask bloggers to be transparent about their relationship and communications with me.
3. Always be truthful.
4. Never ask someone else to deceive bloggers for me.
5. Never ask bloggers to write a fake endorsement or something they do not believe.
6. Never use off-topic comment for self-promotional intent.
7. Never take action contrary to the specific boundaries, terms and conditions, and community guidelines set by each blog.
8. Not use services or technologies for mass-posting comments.
9. Use extreme care when communicating with minors or blogs intended to be read by minors.
10. Comply with all laws and regulations regarding disclosure of identity.
11. Make it clear to our employees and agencies that these rules apply to them.