Can Blogging Hurt?

I started blogging here for several reasons and for the most part it has been positive for my business. It has connected me with my clients, helped me find new clients and been a way for me to learn from others. I try to post useful and positive things to help people, that is not to say I don’t gripe once in awhile, but I hope that I like to help find solutions to problems that people are having with their websites or in creating their websites. Blogging has been good for my business!

Over the weekend I came across a blog that was nothing but negative. The blog posts all had a negative tone and several of the posts even bordered on insulting. While that might be appropriate for a purely personal blog, this blog was attached to a non-profit organization. Granted their is a disclaimer on the blog that it is not an official source of information for the organization, the non-profits main website has a link to the blog in a visible location suggesting there is a connection between the two sites.

That blog got me thinking about how it must be hurting that organization. There was lots of complaining about the organization and how it is being run, but they offered no solutions to any of the problems. They also posted information about members of the organization that, in my opinion, should be kept in some confidence. While they might not be corporate secrets, I am certain the members of the organization would not appreciate having their salaries discussed in an open forum. Blogging is a great way of building community and having good conversations, but if the tone of the conversation and community is negative, it will have a negative effect on an organization or business.

What do you think can a bad blog hurt a business? What are some experiences you have had with negative blogs?