Issues continue to arise regarding the use of social media and the legal and practical issues that can arise. Here are few stories demonstrating the need for common sense by users and social media usage policies from employers:
- Who owns the rights to use photos posted to Twitter? (Clanco blog)
- Is it legal to fire an employee who criticizes the boss on Facebook? (NY Times)
- Florida bans jurors from tweeting, blogging (cnet)
- Court orders plaintiff to turn over social media user names and passwords (K&L Gates – electronic discovery blog)
- Can employers review electronic messages? (The Legal Intelligencer)
- Facebook Places Has Checked-in: Brand Owners Should Consider Proactively Setting Up Pages to Prevent Unfixable Errors (Dorsey & Whitney LLP)
- Briton Loses Twitter Case, but Wins Following -Paul J. Chambers’s joke on Twitter about blowing up an airport got him convicted, but he is now a cause célèbre (NY Times)
Risks of mismanaged or unmanaged social media activities in the workplace:
- Content contradicts company policy
- Employee embarrasses company
- Used to violate someone else’s intellectual property
- Used as evidence in a future legal case
- Used improperly in employment decisions
- Leak of confidential information
- Misuses company’s intellectual property
- Unclear if source is personal or company
Tips for implementing a social media policy:
- Educate employees about risks
- Share company goals for using social media
- Make it clear who owns what
- Outline company objectives and goals
- Flexible guidelines
- Examples of proper use
- Examples of improper uses
- Ownership of accounts and content
- Intellectual property usage
- Proper usage of company logos and brands
- Educate employees about respecting the intellectual property rights of others
- Register usernames that correlate to company brand names
- Protect confidential information
- Use of social media in hiring decisions
- Employee signature acknowledging receipt and review
- Use clauses in contracts to address who owns content (and/or accounts) created by employees, by contractors, by users/customers, and in joint ventures
Very interesting angle on social media– these things often will be overlooked simply because people aren’t thinking about it that much. One issue is certainly privacy, which will continue to be under the microscope from here on out as Google and Facebook and other various networks continue to expand. I found a similar post on this if you think it could help. Thanks again!