The Legal Aspects of Social Media
By Darity Wesley
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” ~Nelson Mandela
Here’s a cocktail fact for you- did you know that social media has taken over pornography as the #1 activity on the Internet? You probably participate in at least one type of social media, a website that is based on participation and user-generated content in some form personally and/or professionally.
(for the full article and multimedia experience, click here: OM-Times June 2010 Edition)
So now let us count the ways you may be engaged in the social media revolution- social networking websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter; social bookmarking and news sites; Nings that are centered on user interactions; and other myriad technologies and practices that we use to connect with each other and share opinions, insights, experiences and perspectives with each other.
With all of this incredibly accessible information and ability to interact, have you noticed how the borders between our public and private lives are blurring? Do you ever wonder whether or not to post a cute family photo to share with your network of family or friends? How about to expressing your real opinion about someone or something? These are good questions to stop and ask yourself before posting anything. The best rule to follow is: Anything you post online is publicly available information that anyone in the world can access.
State and federal legislators are reacting to this explosion of privacy issues and online privacy has become a higher priority on Capitol Hill. The first lawsuits have been tried both in Pennsylvania and California for invasion of privacy for online issues, and both cases were lost. There is a plethora of bills nationwide addressing age verification, creating false profiles and required warnings that what you post may be used by anyone, anywhere. It’s definitely a privacy new frontier out there on the Internet and the law is just arriving in our global town.
Free speech is being tested in this cyber-jungle. People have the right to commercial use of their own images for publicity (think pictures on Facebook). Defamation of character (false statements about a person presented as facts intended to harm that person) is still illegal- and it travels like wildfire on our instantaneous global networks like Twitter. While defamation is a great big no-no, you do have the right to state your opinions.
Business is adopting social media at a wild pace, particularly relationship-oriented industries like real estate. Unfortunately, home listings are getting spread around everywhere, which is not really a good thing, and there are few social media policies in place yet to protect both business and individual rights.
