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News date: 7 October 2011
The recent high profile case of the footballer Ryan Giggs really brought to light the problems inherent in our social media world. His very expensive media injunction to protect his privacy was destroyed by a Twitter campaign, which ended up with 75,000 followers. Despite threats to punish the culprits, it soon became clear that you couldn’t reasonably sue so many of them.
On the other hand, every day you read stories in the press about someone being sacked for insulting their boss or company on Facebook or Twitter, or more serious is the jury member who posted her views on the case before the end of the trial. She’s now facing jail herself.
It does amaze me that we have so many ‘media savvy’ people, many of whom have grown up with the internet as part of their culture, yet they still don’t consider the following fact. Once you’ve posted your thoughts on the internet, it’s a permanent record. You can close down Tweets, but if they’ve been viewed or re-tweeted by your followers, you are potentially vulnerable to unpleasant repercussions.
What about slander or libel? Facebook and Twitter are often used as places for a rant and while I totally support free speech and a right to express one’s views, with my legal hat on I would advise caution. There are some people whose views we would rightly consider offensive and unacceptable. If they express themselves openly on the internet – and are found out – can they be brought to justice?
Actually, at the moment, it appears that you can say pretty much whatever you like on the internet without much legal recourse. However, remember that a tweet or Facebook entry has a very long shelf life. This is one important reason why employers must be aware of what their employees are saying on social media in relation to their jobs, managers, work colleagues or the company that employs them.
Social media also has astonishing power. The Arab Spring spread originally from Tunisia throughout the internet. Closer to home, the riots in London and elsewhere have been able to spread like wildfire through Twitter and Facebook encouraging mass groups to unite and destroy local communities overnight. It’s also becoming more difficult to hide human rights abuses.
Social media platforms are as much a force for good as they can be for bad. Bullying has emigrated from the playground to the internet, to become cyber bullying. Some paedophiles see Facebook as open season, enticing teenagers into their orbit by pretending to be in their peer group. It is essential that parents protect their children on the internet too.
On a personal level, in a relatively short space of time I’ve gone from being a social media dinosaur to someone who is now quite at home tweeting and interacting with people on Facebook and the social media business network Linked In. In fact, at Pictons we regularly use all three as part of our business strategy because they are such great ways to engage with people, especially those you’d like to meet but don’t know.
Having embraced this totally new way of doing business and developing relationships, let me give you a few useful legal dos and don’t:
- Do have a social media policy for your employees. Our employment law specialists advise companies on this and always include details in company handbooks
- Don’t let your employees talk about the company on the internet. Your messages and communication to the outside world have to be controlled at the most senior level of responsibility within your business.
- Do remember, the internet is the outside world and a very big and powerful one with a global reach
- Don’t think it doesn’t affect you if you are not a tweeter (Twitter user), a Facebook friend or a LinkedIn businessperson. You don’t have to join in, but it helps you to understand something that has enveloped the world around you.
- Do monitor what your employees are saying on their Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.
- Don’t ignore the benefits of social media if you are recruiting. You can find out so much from looking at someone’s Facebook page, what they tweet or their profile on Linked In.
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