Although technology has had a huge impact on public relations and all of its functions, a number of recent developments suggest the relatively new phenomenon of world wide weblogging - and in particular employee blogging - already has changed many aspects of employee communication. The rise of the web blogosphere has significantly empowered employees and has provided a dynamic new medium many are using to communicate with a variety of internal and external audiences.

Industry-related interests have led to the publication of several reports and white papers investigating the phenomenon of employee blogging, the credibility of blog messages, and how companies are reacting to this new form of consumer generated communication. However, there does not appear to have been any research examining ethical concerns associated with employee blogging.

This paper explores several ethical issues about weblogs and employee communications through a web-based, international study of public relations practitioners. The following research questions form the basis of this research:

• Are employee blogs saying positive or negative things about the organizations their authors work for?
• Is it ethical for employees to write and post on a web blog negative statements about the organizations they work for?
• Is it ethical for representatives of organizations to monitor information their employees have written on weblogs?
• Is it ethical for an organization to discipline an employee who writes negative statements about the organization on a weblog?
• Is it ethical for an organization to conduct research or measurement studies that focus on information their employees are writing on weblogs?