TABLE OF CONTENTS HISTORY OF SOCIAL MEDIA. 3 DESCRIPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA PORTALS. 3 WORKPLACE LIABILITY EXPOSURES FROM SOCIAL MEDIA. 6 CONCLUSION.

Transcription

1 !"# $! % "& Social media is a phenomenon that shaped current culture and is changing future communication. Innovation and new frontiers also create liability exposures. By learning the history and understanding popular portals organizations and individuals may evaluate and mitigate workplace, intellectual property, and personal injury exposures from social media.

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS HISTORY OF SOCIAL MEDIA... 3 DESCRIPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA PORTALS... 3 WORKPLACE LIABILITY EXPOSURES FROM SOCIAL MEDIA... 4 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LIABILITY EXPOSURES FROM SOCIAL MEDIA... 5 PERSONAL INJURY LIABILITY EXPOSURES... 6 REPUTATION AND BRAND EXPOSURES... 6 CONCLUSION... 7 WORKS CITED... 8

3 Social media is a phenomenon that shaped current culture and is changing future communication. Innovation and new frontiers also create liability exposures. The innovation of social media created liability and the exposure will continue to evolve as the social media frontier is further expanded and litigated. Users of social media include organizations and individuals. Each of these users are exposed to liability of various forms. By learning the history and understanding popular portals organizations and individuals may evaluate and mitigate workplace, intellectual property, and personal injury exposures from social media. History of Social Media In order to understand the risk exposures in the current social media landscape and anticipate the direction of this emerging exposure, it is important to understand the development of social media. In 1994 theglobe.com was created by two Cornell University students and allowed user personalization and communication, which are the basis for most social media platforms (Edwards, 2011). A few years later, ICQ and subsequently America Online (AOL) popularized instant messaging. In 1997 sixdegrees.com invents a social network by allowing users to connect with friends via a contact list. In 1999 LiveJournal popularized blogging as the pioneer in bloghosting. After the new millennium, Friendster and MySpace perpetuated social networking and were eventually overshadowed by Facebook. In 2006 blogging was reinvented by Twitter by establishing mico-blogs in which users maintain a blogging site but are limited to 140 characters per post. Social media accessibility grew when social media applications became available via Smartphones. This new mode of communication is instant and can be very powerful. According to an ISACA (formerly the Information Systems Audit and Control Association) white paper, of the Fortune 100 companies, 65 percent have active Twitter accounts, 54 percent have Facebook fan pages, 50 percent have YouTube video channels and 33 percent have corporate blogs. With sites boasting millions of users, it is clear that the social media phenomenon is permanent and will have a dramatic impact on society. Once considered a fad, many individuals and businesses now consider the social media landscape a very important and integral part of their lives. Description of Social Media Portals There are many different methods in which organizations and individuals access social media. Social media was traditionally accessed through websites. However, the accessibility and function of social media is broader than the traditional definition of a website. This report refers to social media websites as portals. This term accurately describes the broadening scope of social media. Traditionally, users access websites to extract information or interact with the website directly. Social media portals now allow users to pull information, interact with others and generate content for others to view. This interaction is further expanded by allowing users to

4 create profiles, avatars, message boards, and their own defined space within the portal. Even though portals take many forms, the portals which businesses and individuals commonly use will be discussed and their exposures will be examined. In order to examine the liability exposures of these portals, one must have familiarity of the purpose and functionality of the portal. 1) Twitter: Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest stories, ideas, opinions and news about what [users] find interesting (About Twitter). Twitter users create a portal though the use of a username and password. Twitter users are identified by the use of symbol as a prefix to the user s identification name. Users, post messages of less than 140 characters which other users may read. 2) Facebook: Facebook is a commonly known social media portal in which users create their own page and establish connections with other friends. Users post messages, upload photos and other content. Facebook has over 900 million monthly active users (Key Facts - Facebook Newsroom). 3) Instagram: Instagram is a portal which allows users to share pictures from mobile devices and personal computers. Users can instantly share photos and apply artistic modifications to those photos. Instagram allows users to share these photos through other social media portals, such as Facebook, Twitter, and others (FAQ - Instagram). 4) Pinterest: Pinterest describes itself as a virtual pin board (What is Pinterest?). Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Users may view the pinboard s of others and copy items to their own pinboard. As previously discussed, other social media sites are utilized. However, the above are common portals that create liability exposures for businesses and individuals. Workplace Liability Exposures from Social Media The most prominent area in which organizations face liability is in regards to workplace actions. The hiring, firing, and reprimanding of employees always creates potential for liability. However with the emergence of social media, new exposures to lawsuits immerge and precedents are being set through litigation. Many employers struggle with their stance on the use of social media within the workplace. Some employers forbid the use of social media within the workplace and fear vicarious liability and brand reputation damage from their employees use of social media. Other organizations encourage the use of social media by their employees to foster personal relationships and facilitate brand awareness. However, most organizations are unsure about addressing this topic within their employee handbook, and unsure about what actions to take when an employee utilizes social media portals to defame the organization or harass a coworker. It is important for organizations to carefully study this exposure and consider the potential liabilities created from social media within the workplace. The actions of an employer

5 reacting to social media users can instigate wrongful termination lawsuits, failure to hire lawsuits, discrimination lawsuits, workplace bullying or other lawsuits. Social media uses can influence entry-level employees and corporate executives alike. Francesca Holdings Corp. fired its chief financial officer as a result of his use of social media (Social Media Postings Lead to Firing of Texas Executive, 2012). The company indicated that the executive improperly released company information through social media. Actions like these should implemented cautiously since terminations can instigate wrongful termination suits or complaints to the National Labor Relations Board. The National Labor Relations Act protects both union and nonunion workers when they engage in protected concerted activity which they describe as, coming together to discuss working conditions (Hananel, 2011). The NLRB enforcement office supports the employers or the employees based on circumstances regarding the content and other factors. For example, a BMW car salesman was fired after complaining on Facebook about the poor food quality at a dealership event. However, the NLRB enforcement office declared that the employees comments were legally protected because he expressed concern about the terms and conditions of his job, which he expressed in person to other employees. The NLRB does not always side with the employees, and will only do so when the employee discusses their complaint to other co-workers or attempt to take complaints to management. Each organization should continually examine their exposure within the area of workplace liability. They should carefully discuss employment actions with legal counsel and consider any litigation that may follow actions. Intellectual Property Liability Exposures from Social Media With the rapid growth of new technology and social media, intellectual property has become a precious asset held by organizations. Recently, Yahoo demanded compensation from Facebook for using Yahoo s technology (Levine, 2012). Yahoo believes that Facebook utilizes several patents Yahoo developed. However, corporations of all sizes and industries face exposures of intellectual property liability from social media. Many organizations, of various sizes, are embracing social media and utilizing social media to connect with customers and clients. However, those organizations should be aware of copywrite and trademark exposures from posting pictures, icons, slogans, logos, and other items. Individuals may also have a copywrite and trademark exposure from the use from Pinterest and other social media sites. Pinterest s terms of services have been scrutinized by many as it may leave users vulnerable to copywrite and trademark suits by those who create and own the intellectual property. As previously discussed, Pinterest is a social media portal that allows users to pin web content to their own board within Pinterest. However, this creates a developing controversy over this content. Some suggest that the publicity of major corporations within the

6 Pinterest portal will be welcomed and create greater brand awareness (Smith, 2012). However, the platform is more problematic for photographers and visual designers who make a living from selling their work (Smith, 2012). Those who depend on selling their intellectual property will likely take action when they are infringed upon. Users should be aware of this exposure as the portal does not require users to name the creator or owner of the image. Users should consider the implications of copywrite ownership when pinning items to Pinterest. Even after revising their terms of services, users should take precautions to credit the owner of the intellectual property. Personal Injury Liability Exposures Individuals must also be cognizant of their own liability exposures to personal injury claims. The most prominent exposure concerning personal injury damage is defamation. The publication or broadcast of any libelous or slanderous statement about an individual or business that can be proven to be false and published with the intention of harming that entity's reputation is considered to be defamation. Online defamation is the publication of such statements made on any Internet based media including blogs, forums, websites, and even social networking websites (Online Defamation And Your Rights). Online defamatory statements are an evolving area of case law in which many law firms are beginning to specialize in this area. Libel, slander and defamation exposures existed prior to the development of social media, the propensity for these claims increases with the use of social media. This increase is attributed to the permanence and the audience of social media defamation. Prior to the expansion of social media, bullying and defamation by individuals was confined to word of mouth and narrowly circulated media. However, social media allows defamatory comments to be spread from one sender to many viewers. Also the permanence of posts and messages is much greater since messages can be re-posted, forwarded, and disseminated by other viewers. These aspects of social media create greater exposure for social media users within the general public. Reputation and Brand Exposures One of the biggest risk exposures faced by business entities is the potential harm to an organization s reputation and brand. It has become commonplace for individuals to use social media outlets to create entire pages and groups for the purpose of spreading opinions and views of a company s actions and products. A negative post, blog, or group that goes viral can lead to lost sales, distrust in a company or brand, and an increase of negative publicity. With the increasing number of social media outlets, it is becoming increasingly complicated for a business to monitor every portal. To further complicate things, it is impossible to identify which posts will go viral and at what point they will cause harm to a company s reputation or brand.

7 Oftentimes, a business must use a reactive approach to respond to potentially harmful posts. At this point, the damage has already been done. Reputation coverage has emerged as a result of the risks associated with the social media exposures. The emergence of reputation coverage now allows a business to transfer the cost of actual and anticipated publicity that is potentially damaging to reputation or brand. Coverage is available for the costs associated with addressing the adverse publicity and the costs associated with helping monitor brands. While some businesses choose to utilize the emerging risk transfer products, many others still view the reputation and brand exposure associated with social media as a policy and procedure issue. Conclusion Social media is evolving. New portals are created, existing portals modify and change. This change impacts workplace, intellectual property, personal injury exposures, and reputation and brand exposures. Strategic evaluation is imperative when evaluating exposures and assessing possible litigation from social media. Litigation and legislation will impact the extent of those exposures, but scope of the impact is currently unclear. Therefore, it is important that individuals and organizations continually monitor and assess their exposure to social media.

8 ! " # $% &'' %( )&*+' + & &,#& -& && & #&&.&/ " 3 4#!" " # !! $# #$" %&$" % " # $ ++*+ #' " :,. ;/0 <51 => :#$ ( )" *# " # $%+%+) 5!<?<!." 44! #@ <A..-" 35!<?< +, " *- " #,..! " 9!% " # A #= 8.. %...& #&& ).$. / " # ' " # ' '*+)%+ ( 0 " # A