"In Era of Blog Sniping, Companies Shoot First"

Last week, The New York Times published an article regarding the use of blogs by companies for announcing layoffs. With the market crisis that has been developing in the past several weeks, a number of companies have been forced to let part of their workforce go. However, information is getting leaked to the public faster and faster. Many of these layoffs reach the public before the company even has a chance to inform their employees of the layoff. Some employees are learning that they are being laid-off through reading blogs about their companies. As a result, many companies are beginning to post stories such as layoffs on company blogs so that their employees and the public are informed by the company rather than by somebody outside the company who managed to get the story.

This article clearly addresses the confidentiality and integrity of information. Many blog posts by people outside these companies are not completely accurate and accuse companies of poor management. This in turn is creating a negative image for these companies who are clearly already struggling. So, do you think that companies are addressing this problem in the best way possible? What else could they do to protect both their employees and reputation?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/technology/start-ups/05blog.html?_r=3&ref=technology&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin