Social Media as Alternative or in Addition to BBB When Too Small to Sue

A post at MyShingle.com asks whether lawyers should suggest not only going to the Better Business Bureau with complaints that are too small monetarily to sue over, but also whether lawyers should now suggest using social media to start a viral campaign telling everyone the issue.  See the post here.   My initial thoughts: just be careful what you post is not libelous and complies with other laws.  Some people get so angry, they get carried away.  But if they can stay within the laws and are not breaching any contract by doing so (such as confidentiality provisions), and can take the risk that it might provoke other issues with that company if there is any ongoing relationship, then go for it.

October B2B Article on Immunity, Blogs and Social Network Is Here!

The B2B has published the next in my series of artlices with co-writer David Bowman.  This October article is called  ”Blogs, comments subject to libel law:  Sites walk fine line between editing, being immune from suits.”    It discusses some choices you might want to make about how you set up your site and what you choose to edit and how that might affect whether you have immunity for what others say on your blog.    Happy reading!  (Next artcle will be on privacy aspects of social networking….)

Social Networking Helps Cut Company Legal Fee Costs – How? Read on!

Social networking is helping companies (specificially corporate counsel) cut legal fees by providing groups and forums for them to discuss and share ideas and answers to legal questions for free.  For instance, on Linked In, there are topic groups that you can subscribe to, like Intellectual Property.  You can then post questions and answer other people’s questions.  Human resources professionals are also benefiting.  Of course, there are issues about the lack of attorney-client privilege and there is no privacy to the questions.  However, for general inquiries that are not private (perhaps such as “Where might I find good examples of social networking policies?”), these sites can really help.

Corporate counsel are also trading forms and drfating their own documents before sending them to outside counsel.

To read more about how companies are cutting costs, see this article here, which incidentally, mentions LexisNexis, my employer.

Facebook and Privacy

Are you concerned about your privacy on social networking sites?  Take a look at EPIC’s site on just this topic here.   You’ll learn a number of things.  For instance, the Canadian Privacy Commissioner investigated Facebook’s privacy practices, issued some findings, and Facebook listened and issued a press release about some changes it will make here.  Specifically, in that August 27, 2009 press release, Facebook says these will include:

“• Updating the Privacy Policy to better describe a number of practices, including the reasons for the collection of date of birth, account memorialization for deceased users, the distinction between account deactivation and deletion, and how its advertising programs work.

• Encouraging users to review their privacy settings to make sure the defaults and selections reflect the user’s preferences.

• Increasing the understanding and control a user has over the information accessed by third-party applications. Specifically, Facebook will introduce a new permissions model that will require applications to specify the categories of information they wish to access and obtain express consent from the user before any data is shared. In addition, the user will also have to specifically approve any access to their friends’ information, which would still be subject to the friend’s privacy and application settings.”

Go to the Settings tab, pick Privacy Settings, and pick what you want to be shared!

Facebook posts disparaging your co-workers can get you fired

Yes, Virginia, Facebook postes disparaging your co-workers can get you fired. Just see story of Griffin Scott, who posted on his Facebook status that the rest of the news team didn’t know what the Enola Gay was. He described the incident like this:

“The comment was posted on my personal Facebook page on August 14. I made the comment that I ‘knew what the Enola Gay was and that makes me the only person under 40 who knew that in our newsroom. Not sure whether to be proud or not,’” he said.  

See the Denver- The Latest Word blog here.

Apparently, three days before he was fired, he was asked to remove the post, which he did by deactivating his account.  They fired him anyway.  Now he has filed suit for breach of contract.  The station had terminated him under  a contract clause that prohibited him from subjecting the station to public disrepute, contempt, scandal or ridicule. For more on that see here.

Articles by yours truely re: SOCIAL MEDIA and the LAW

The Dayton B2B recently published an article of mine on Social Media policies, whether employers should have them, what they might look like, etc.  To read it, click here.

The Dayton B2B also recently began publishing a series that David Bowman and I are doing on social media.  David writes on one side about the business implications, and I write on the other side about the legal implications.  Each month there will be a new article.  Our first article is here.

Please let me know what you think of the articles and what ideas you want to see covered in future articles.

Jurors using Twitter get called on carpet

Apparently, a juror used Twitter to update followers on the status of the case — a big “no-no.”  Jurors are told not to disclose information about deliberations during deliberations.  The juror tweeted, ”Stay tuned for a big announcement on Monday everyone!”   The lawyers moved to disqualify the juror.    For more, click HERE.

And in Arkansas, a $12.6 M verdict was appealed.  It was alleged a juror’s Twitter posts showed he was biased.  The juror posed: “oh and nobody buy Stoam. Its bad mojo and they’ll probably cease to Exist, now that their wallet is 12m lighter.”  He also posted: “I just gave away TWELVE MILLION DOLLARS of somebody else’s money.”  For more, click HERE. 

The courts found nothing wrong — IN THOSE CASES.  As with, say, verbal communications, these comments did not contain anything about the deliberations themselves.  Or so say the courts.   The problem of course with any of these communications during deliberations is not just that they make comments to the world — but that they invite responses, which they are likely reading if they are on these cites.    Jurors should just steer clear of the subject all together other than to say that they are in jury duty or not, so people know not to expect a return communication.  Better yet, they should avoid getting on these sites if their method of making these tweets or status updates allows them to see other’s comments which could include comments about the case.  Jurors are admonished not to read newspapers and tv about the cases, and comments from others run afoul of the same problems.

So now, we — as  lawyers —  need to follow juror social networking sites during and after trials.

Friends want to do business with friends

David Bowman has a great blog post on this.

“Noted sales author Jeffrey Gitomer stated the value of friends like this.  ”All things being equal, people want to do business with their friends.”  ”All things being not so equal, people STILL want to do business with their friends.”  ”Connecting is all about your friendliness, your ability to engage, and your willingness to give value first.”  Note that the book that this was taken from, The Little Black Book of Connections,  is not even about social media, yet it is directly applicable.”

See the rest of the post at: http://www.davidebowman.com/friends.htm

Free 2009 Community Business Law Forum

In this uncertain economy, it is more important than ever to know how to deal with the legal issues that surround you. Your clients or customers may be threatening or filing bankruptcy, you may be contemplating a new advertising campaign, or you may be contemplating a lay off. What do you need to know? Let us help.

Free registration online at: http://www.daybar.org/html/events/community_business_forum_registration.html

Itinerary below.  Have general questions you would like answered?  Leave comments on my blog here.

The brochure is available on the Dayton Bar Association’s site at: http://www.daybar.org/pdfs/DBA_BLD_Community_Business_Law_Forum.pdf

8:00-8:30 – Continental Breakfast
8:30-9:00 – Bankruptcy: Ira Thomsen, Esq.
• How can I collect my accounts receivables when my clients are going bankrupt?
• What does bankruptcy mean for my business?
• How will the bankruptcies around me change how I do business?
9:00-9:30 –Internet and Intellectual Property, Katherine L. Early, Esq.
• What are the hidden dangers of advertising on the internet that I should know so I do it right and effectively?
• What types of intellectual property does my business have?
• What do my employees need to know about intellectual property so my business doesn’t lose money?
• How can I protect what intellectual property I have, but do it economically?
9:30-9:45 -Break
9:45 -10:15 –Human Resources/Labor and Employment: C. Mark Kingseed, Esq. and David Pierce, Esq.
• How will the economy affect the types of employment claims I will see?
• Why is management of workers compensation cases so important?
• What types of federal and state laws are seeing increased use and how are they changing under the new administration?
• What can I do now to protect myself and my business?
10:15-10:45 –Insurance: John Ferneding, C.I.C.
• What types of insurance are out there? (You might be surprised!)
• How do I make a claim, and what is the process?
• What do reservations of rights letters mean?
• How are insurance products affected by this market?
10:45-11:15 –Corporate Forms: Richard Boucher, Esq.
• Are you protected by the right form?
• What do you have to do to stay in compliance?
• What are the tax implications of each form?
• What are potential issues that arise with each form?
11:15-12:00 – Q&A

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