Catshanghai

Accordng to the BBC, a third of UK bloggers are expressing ideas or giving information that could cause trouble for their companies.

Human resources company Croner, which commissioned the study, warned that such bloggers could be sacked from their job for gross misconduct.

Croner surveyed 2,000 people who keep a personal internet blog or diary and 39% said that they made harmful comments.

Bloggers should consider the potential impact of all postings, Croner said.
Source: BBC

Also see this Guardian article from 2005, which has case studies about employees being dismissed after writing critical blog entries.

Contrast the mild relaxation of blogging rules in China with the possibility of being fired for indiscrete online activity in the UK. (See this post in Shanghaiist)  You may not be but in prison in the UK for writing a satirical blog post about Tony Blair, but he could certainly fire you if the soon to be Ex-PM was your boss.

Companies could go beyond knee jerk reactions by considering the ideas presented in Clive Thompson’s recent Wired article promoting a new blogging paradigm of ‘radical transparency’. The idea is that companies like Redfin engage in public self criticism as a healthy sign that they are open to open to dialogue, new ideas and change.