Legal Guide To Social Media

How should you respond to a request to remove copyrighted materials from a Facebook page? If you create a Twitter handle at work, who owns that handle when you change jobs? Can you be sued for libel if your posts are defamatory? If you’ve ever asked yourself these kinds of questions, this pioneering legal handbook is for you. Despite the enormous growth in social media, scant legal advice is available to help the many people who are posting online. Easy-to-understand, comprehensive, and current, Legal Guide to Social Media provides the latest information on case law and statutes. It covers everything from privacy laws to copyright issues to how to respond to employers’ requests for your social media passwords. This plain English legal companion offers examples of and solutions to the kinds of situations you can expect to encounter when posting online content, whether for personal enjoyment or on behalf of an employer. You’ll learn how to avoid liability for defamation and third-party posts, the legalities of copying and linking to content, how to protect your own content, and much, much more. Whether you’re a marketer, entrepreneur, business owner, new media manager, or simply one of the millions of social media users in the United States, this must-have guide will help you to understand and mitigate the most common legal risks inherent in social media use.

Learn how to navigate the ins and outs of the law and social media. How should you respond to a request to remove copyrighted materials from a Facebook page? If you create a Twitter username at work, who owns the username when you change jobs? Can you be sued for libel if someone thinks your posts are defamatory? If you’ve ever asked yourself these kinds of questions, this pioneering legal handbook is for you. Despite the enormous growth in social media usage by businesses and influencers, very little has been written about the laws affecting their activities. In this new edition of the Legal Guide to Social Media, Kimberly A. Houser, law professor and tech attorney, explains the potential pitfalls and how to avoid them including what social media influencers could have done to protect themselves from the lawsuits resulting from the Fyre Festival debacle. Easy-to-understand, comprehensive, and up-to-date, the Legal Guide to Social Media, Second Edition provides the latest information on case law and statutes. It covers everything from privacy laws to the legal considerations in setting up a page or website as well as new governmental regulations. This plain English legal companion offers examples of and solutions to the kinds of situations you can expect to encounter when posting online content, whether for yourself, your own business, or on behalf of your client’s business. You’ll learn how to avoid liability for defamation and third-party posts, how to protect your own content, the unique legal issues surrounding social media in the workplace, and much, much more. The new edition covers new state regulations on privacy, data security and advertising; how to avoid intellectual property infringement actions; and the newer legal risks for influencers.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat allow users to connect with one another and share information with the click of a mouse or a tap on a touchscreen—and have become vital tools for professionals in the news and strategic communication fields. But as rapidly as these services have grown in popularity, their legal ramifications aren’t widely understood. To what extent do communicators put themselves at risk for defamation and privacy lawsuits when they use these tools, and what rights do communicators have when other users talk about them on social networks? How can an entity maintain control of intellectual property issues—such as posting copyrighted videos and photographs—consistent with the developing law in this area? How and when can journalists and publicists use these tools to do their jobs without endangering their employers or clients? Including two new chapters that examine First Amendment issues and ownership of social media accounts and content, Social Media and the Law brings together thirteen media law scholars to address these questions and more, including current issues like copyright, online impersonation, anonymity, cyberbullying, sexting, and live streaming. Students and professional communicators alike need to be aware of laws relating to defamation, privacy, intellectual property, and government regulation—and this guidebook is here to help them navigate the tricky legal terrain of social media.

How should you respond to a request to remove copyrighted materials from a Facebook page? If you create a Twitter handle at work, who owns that handle when you change jobs? Can you be sued for libel if your posts are defamatory? If you’ve ever asked yourself these kinds of questions, this pioneering legal handbook is for you. Despite the enormous growth in social media, scant legal advice is available to help the many people who are posting online. Easy-to-understand, comprehensive, and current, Legal Guide to Social Media provides the latest information on case law and statutes. It covers everything from privacy laws to copyright issues to how to respond to employers’ requests for your social media passwords. This plain English legal companion offers examples of and solutions to the kinds of situations you can expect to encounter when posting online content, whether for personal enjoyment or on behalf of an employer. You’ll learn how to avoid liability for defamation and third-party posts, the legalities of copying and linking to content, how to protect your own content, and much, much more. Whether you’re a marketer, entrepreneur, business owner, new media manager, or simply one of the millions of social media users in the United States, this must-have guide will help you to understand and mitigate the most common legal risks inherent in social media use.

How to Avoid Legal Pitfalls on Social Media Social media is where your customers are--so it's where your business has to be. Unfortunately, this space is packed with land mines that can obliterate your hard-earned success in the time it takes to click a mouse. Written in easy-to-understand, accessible language, Social Media Law for Business reveals your legal rights and responsibilities in the fast-moving and ever-changing social media landscape. Learn how to: Create a social media policy for your business * Recruit, hire, and fire through social media * Share content without getting sued * Blog and run contests * Draft disclosure requirements in digital advertising "Glen Gilmore stands alone as the authority on social media law. Social Media Law for Business should become a ready reference for business leaders and digital marketers." -- MARK SCHAEFER, bestselling author of Return on Influence "Required reading not only in the classroom, but also in the boardroom--and in any business where people care about getting social media marketing right." -- PETER METHOT, managing director of executive education at Rutgers Business School "A layperson's blueprint for minimizing the legal risks of social media marketing, while maximizing the opportunities for digital marketing success." -- AMY HOWELL, founder of Howell Marketing Strategies and coauthor of Women in High Gear

The plain-English business guide to avoiding social media legal risks and liabilities—for anyone using social media for business—written specifically for non-attorneys! You already know social media can help you find customers, strengthen relationships, and build your reputation, but if you are not careful, it also can expose your company to expensive legal issues and regulatory scrutiny. This insightful, first-of-its-kind book provides business professionals with strategies for navigating the unique legal risks arising from social, mobile, and online media. Distilling his knowledge into a 100% practical guide specifically for non-lawyers, author and seasoned business attorney, Robert McHale, steps out of the courtroom to review today’s U.S. laws related to social media and alert businesses to the common (and sometimes hidden) pitfalls to avoid. Best of all, McHale offers practical, actionable solutions, preventative measures, and valuable tips on shielding your business from social media legal exposures associated with employment screening, promotions, endorsements, user-generated content, trademarks, copyrights, privacy, security, defamation, and more... You’ll Learn How To • Craft legally compliant social media promotions, contests, sweepstakes, and advertising campaigns • Write effective social media policies and implement best practices for governance • Ensure the security of sensitive company and customer information • Properly monitor and regulate the way your employees use social media • Avoid high-profile social media mishaps that can instantly damage reputation, brand equity, and goodwill, and create massive potential liability • Avoid unintentional employment and labor law violations in the use of social media in pre-employment screening • Manage legal issues associated with game-based marketing, “virtual currencies,” and hyper-targeting • Manage the legal risks of user-generated content (UGC) • Protect your trademarks online, and overcome brandjacking and cybersquatting • Understand the e-discovery implications of social media in lawsuits

Written by a veteran litigator and leading expert on law and social media, The Lawyers Guide to Social Networking provides a comprehensive look at how social media is affecting the legal system. This book examines the myriad ways in which information from sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter is being put to use in everything from criminal and family law matters to personal injury, employment, and commercial cases nationwide. The author illustrates how the pervasive social networking phenomenon is redefining traditional notions of jurisdiction, duty, service of process, and legal ethics while using actual trial and appellate level cases to analyze the discoverability and admissibility of social media evidence.

Social media enables instant access to individual self-expression and the sharing of information. Social media issues are boundless, permeating distinct legal disciplines. The law has struggled to adapt and for good reason: how does the law regulate this medium over the public/private law divide? This book engages with the legal implications of social media from public and private law perspectives and outlines how the law, in various legal sub-disciplines and with varying success, has endeavoured to adapt existing tools to social media.