Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/25416
• Facebook boasts a jaw-dropping 500 million users around the globe Fortune 500 companies such as Whole Foods Market, Best Buy and The Home Depot include two or more free social media websites among their arsenal of marketing tools, often citing Flickr, a photo-sharing service, as another popular resource. What big and small businesses alike have begun to understand is that connecting with consumers on websites they already visit is a powerful resource worth investing — time, not money — in. With a stunning 50 million tweets published per day — each of those tweets posted for free — it’s no wonder businesses have turned to Twitter and other social media sites to get Social media marketing isn’t just limited tool to connect with their target audience.” businesses have a free “The rewards of social media are clear: their names and messages out to a potential audience of tens of millions. THE POTENTIAL FOR FAUX PAS While businesses certainly have great reasons for using this new media, the challenges that social media pose in e-discovery are as plentiful as the tweets and status updates themselves. With no standard procedures or guidelines for using social media in the workplace, each company’s policy looks a bit different, each interacting with this phenomenon in a unique way. The rewards of social media are clear: businesses have a free tool to connect with their target audience. The risks, however, are not as straightforward. to Fortune 500 corporations — many AmLaw 100 law firms and e-discovery software vendors (like Exterro) have blogs, Twitter accounts and Facebook fan pages. The advent of legal- specific sites like JDSupra and Avvo further complicate the landscape. In an article for Executive Counsel, Tamara Devitt, a social media expert and partner at Fisher & Phillips LLP, describes a nightmare scenario for an employer with a strong Web presence: learning of an employee’s uncouth status updates or racy pictures from a business trip to Las Vegas. While this particular scenario was fictional, Devitt uncovers several instances of personal social media use by employees that pose a risk for the company. An additional risk that businesses face is the misuse of a company account (as opposed to a personal account) by an employee. On October 21, 2010, for example, the Twitter Marketing Case Studies website reported that The Washington Post came under fire after a controversial tweet, in response to a news story on its official Twitter account, caught the eye of a national political activist group. While not all such blunders end in litigation, companies choosing to utilize social networking services must prepare themselves for the www.iltanet.org Litigation and Practice Support 25