–

Social media law was not a topic on offer when I went to law school. Now, it’s a subject that’s hard to avoid for any business that has a consumer-facing social media presence. Here are two recent cases that illustrate the potential pitfalls as this area of law becomes more complex and more interesting:

Last week, HMV’s Twitter feed was hijacked by an employee who live-tweeted employee terminations from the company’s official Twitter account. Perhaps “hijacked” isn’t the right word, since the employee apparently had access to the account as part of her employment duties, though that position likely did not involve posting descriptions of firings as “Mass execution of loyal employees”. The next day the ex-employee (“Poppy Rose”) helpfully tweeted a reminder to the company that “you need to go to ‘settings’ and revoke my account access as an admin“. The lessons for business?

• Many companies are slow to grasp the power of social media. Don’t underestimate the viral nature – both good and bad – of this tool. Though the offending tweets were deleted by the company, this became a national story within a few minutes. From the company’s perspective, it required careful handling to avoid any brand damage.
• This highlights the need for a Social Media Policy for employees, to deal with the legal pitfalls of social media and particularly those employees who are engaged directly in social media sphere on behalf of the company. The ownership and control of corproate social media accounts is a simple but important element of such a policy.

Related Reading: Who Owns Social Media Contacts: Employers or Employees?

Calgary – 07:00 MST