Interesting article in the New York Times today how Web 2.0 has made it into the realm of announcing staff cutbacks. In the past, press releases announced job layoffs, but now, the company blog is seen as a way to release information without disgruntled or redundant workers getting in the way with their own spin in personal blogs and Twitter and other social media. The article references a former HR executive as saying:
“Today, whatever you say inside of a company will end up on a blog,” said Rusty Rueff, a former human resources executive at Electronic Arts and PepsiCo. “So you have a choice as a company — you can either be proactive and take the offensive and say, ‘Here’s what’s going on,’ or you can let someone else write the story for you.”
Clearly companies are deciding to counteract the negative publicity that can be caused by staff using blogs and Twitter by taking an early stand to set the record straight.
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