Thursday, July 31st, 2008

SEC Boards the Blogging Bandwagon

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted unanimously yesterday to provide new guidance to public companies about how to comply with the securities laws via websites and blogs.

“The last time the SEC issued guidance in this area, the idea of ’social networks’ hadn’t yet been developed, and creating a social network where shareholders could meet and exchange views was barely imaginable,” said SEC Chairman Christopher Cox.” Ongoing developments in technology have increased both the markets’ and investors’ demand for more timely company disclosure on the Web, and in turn, raised new securities law issues for public companies to consider. The guidance issued today clarifies the rules of the road so investors can gain — quickly and in a cost-effective manner — the benefits of Internet disclosure of the latest information on the companies they own or are considering buying.”

You can see the full press release here. There is also a video there in which Chairman Cox goes into further detail regarding using the web to help investors.

I’ve covered our last two financial quarters via the blog and tried my hand as live-blogging our Q2 earnings call via Twitter earlier this month and according to yesterday’s press release, this kind of practice - among other real-time information delivery tools - is encouraged for other companies moving forward.

I’m not sure that using Twitter was the best way to live-blog such a flurry of information (particularly for those getting mobile alerts with each “Tweet”) but the guidance does indicate that the format/information does not need to “satisfy a printer-friendly standard unless other rules explicitly require it, that could restrict creative Web enhancements that incorporate interactive and dynamic design features.”
Cheers,
RBH

Tagged: blog, corporate news, earnings, ebay, ebay ink blog, ebayink, sec, social media, twitter