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Social Media Ethics Question: Author Credit
Is it ethical to give author credit to someone else in the company when the person who originally wrote the blog posts or other social content is no longer there?
Since social media is such a visible role, what do you do when people leave your company? Should companies remove content that old employees have developed and posted, should they remove the author credit all together, or is changing the author of content so it appears that a current employee wrote it acceptable?
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4 Answers
This is an excellent question that presents a very live ethical issue. Specifically this question demonstrates that there is an ongoing need for an understanding of philosophy and ethics in the workplace.
No it's not ethical - however - I see why a company might REMOVE an entire post in this situation for example - an organization might stipulate that any work written on a company blog is technically property of said company. Therefore, if one is no longer with that company, the blog post is taken down in accordance with policy, that of course the employee understands before hand and is in agreement with.
Yet you place an interesting twist - giving someone else credit for that work. This, I don't think is ethical and is a form of plagiarism. At the very least, have an employee re-write a different post with a similar concept. If the person was terminated, getting fresh ideas up on the blog might be a good move.
Looking at this through a metaphysical lens leads to asking the consequences for leaving the content. If one is no longer with an organization, and their blog post is still there, this might provoke confusion among customers in regards to an individual's "existence or presence" at your organization.
Jesse
http://metabrandblog.wordpress.com/
P.S. An interesting addendum to this question (by stretching the question to "death", quite literally), is a recent New York Times Magazine article called "Cyberspace When You're Dead" Thought provoking article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/magazine/09Immortality-t.html
Jesse –
Thanks for the response. I agree with all your points.
It's true that if an employee is no longer there, it can become confusing for customers. In this case, I think the best option would be to simply remove the "author" for those particular posts, making them comany-generic, or remove the posts completely.
My pleasure, Barbra. Thanks for asking and raising awareness of this important topic. Questions like this won't be going away; especially in regards to situations discussed in the New York Times article I referenced.
Jesse
One caveat I'd like to throw in is that its not inappropriate IMO to apply a credit to a department and remove an "author's" name and/or replace it with the author's initials. Arguably, any content created as as essential or elemental part of an employee's regular work is company property, yet mis-attribution to a party uninvolved with the original document/post is simply unethical. Company web sites and blogs are no different that letters on letterhead. That said, having a policy or process in place in advance smooths over the issue.
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