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certainly use your blog—or join someone else's to point that out. Always do so with respect; stick to the
facts and identify your appropriate affiliation to APUS. Also, if you speak about a competitor, you must
make sure that what you say is factual and that it does not disparage the competitor.

Avoid Unnecessary or Unproductive Arguments
Brawls may earn traffic, but nobody wins in the end. Do not try to settle scores or goad competitors or
others into inflammatory debates. Here and in other areas of public discussion, make sure that what you
are saying is factually correct.

Direct Comments About Our Competitors Should Be Kept To a Minimum, If Done At All
Discussing and comparing our programs to others is generally best left to authorized University
representatives. In recent years many companies have come under heavy scrutiny for negatively
characterizing their competition (even if it was truth-based) and not properly disclosing their sources
and/or identities.

Be The First To Respond To Your Own Mistakes
If you make an error, be up front about your mistake and correct it quickly. In a blog, if you choose to
modify an earlier post, make it clear that you have done so.

Use Your Best Judgment
Remember that there are always consequences to what you publish. If you're about to publish
something that makes you even the slightest bit uncomfortable, feel free to discuss it with your
manager. Ultimately, however, you have sole responsibility for what you post to your blog or publish in
any form of online social media.

Don't Forget Your Day Job
You should make sure that your online activities do not interfere with your job or commitments to our
students.

Write What You Know
Make sure you write and post about your areas of expertise. If you are writing about a topic that APUS is
involved with but you are not the APUS expert on the topic, you should make this clear to your readers.
And write in the first person. Remember, you may be personally responsible for your content. Find out
who else is blogging or publishing on the topic, and cite them.

It's a Conversation
Talk to your readers like you would talk to real people in professional situations. In other words, avoid
overly pedantic or "composed" language. Do not be afraid to bring in your own personality and say what
is on your mind. Consider content that is open-ended and invites a response. Encourage comments. You
can also broaden the conversation by citing others who are blogging about the same topic and allowing
your content to be shared or syndicated.

Be a Leader
There can be a fine line between healthy debate and incendiary reaction. Do not denigrate our
competitors or APUS. Nor do you need to respond to every criticism or barb. Try to frame what you
write to invite differing points of view without inflaming others. Some topics—like politics or religion—
slide more easily into sensitive territory. So be careful and considerate. Once the words are out there,
you cannot take them back. And once an inflammatory discussion gets going, it's hard to stop.
2019 Employee Handbook, Revised January 2019 51