Anyone else sick of ‘these opinions are my own’ disclaimer on social media?
Many communicators try to protect their organizations with a boilerplate disclaimer. This writer’s opinion: You should knock it off.
On many blog posts or Twitter bios, you’ll see the following tagline:
“These opinions are my own and do not reflect those of my employer.”
This translates to: I’m afraid of what I’ll say here. So is my employer.
If I’m reading your blog or your tweets and your name is attached to it, I’m assuming you wrote it. Whether you like it or not, whatever you write is your opinion—even if you or your employer tries to cloak it under a corporate social media disclaimer.
I’m sympathetic to those of you who work in a highly regulated industry. Your IT or legal department probably made you attach this statement—telling you that this protects you and the company from whatever you might say or post.
Oh, please.
It’s like we’re all living in a modern version of “1984,” with Big Brother watching what we blog and tweet.
Communicators, if you want to pick a battle in 2012, this one has your name written all over it.
Fight it. When you issue a statement like this, you lose your voice as a writer. And there’s no point to writing if you’re not saying anything.
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