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How should law firm blogs handle comments?

August 30, 2004

Steve Rubel, publisher of Micropersuasion, one of the leading resources on Internet PR, reports PRWeek.com’s Keith O’Brien forwarded to him the results of PRWeek.com’s recent online poll on blog comments. The Web site asked: How should a company handle negative comments on its weblog community?

The results …

  • For transparency’s sake, allow all comments (30.56%)
  • Keep all bad comments that pertain to the debate (16.67%)
  • Have someone review comments before showing (13.89%)
  • Require e-mail address to validate identity (33.33%)
  • Don’t allow comments. It’s your platform (5.56%)

I agree with Steve, if this poll is valid, it’s great to see that most folks are willing to use their corporate blogs to engage in dialogue.

Going with comments on law firm blogs means addressing issues of conflicts, confidentiality, solicitation and quality & assurance as well as unique state ethic’s restrictions on Internet marketing.

But if these issues can be addressed in your state and agreed to by the powers that be in your law firm, I like allowing comments. It shows your audience you are approachable and willing to communicate – two characteristics a recent ABA survey documents the public does not find in lawyers.

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