Web 2.0…Business Friend or Foe

Stephen WeyerStites & Harbison PLLC

Traditional Business Development

Selling Your Company, Events and Projects

Web 2.0

• Dynamic internet experience

• Media – “re-creates” or “captures reality”

• Sharing content among other users– Pictures– Information– Likes/dislikes– News articles

• Social Media

Web Content

• Blogs• Forums, Q&A sites, membership-only sites• Collaborative intranet sites, such as Wiki’s,

SharePoint, etc.• Social media, such as Facebook, Twitter,

LinkedIn, YouTube, SlideShare, etc.• Any information delivered over HTTP

The Basics

What is Social Media?

Local

Why Use Social Media?

Engaging

Effective

Efficient

Economical

Everyone

In the News…

• Russia is the most “social”– 75% of its citizens spend at least 9.8

hours/week on social networking sites

• Role in Middle East revolutions– Egypt– Libya

• Snowball fights in DuPont Circle– Snowpocalypse and snowmageddon

Statistics*

• 250 million blogs

• 500 million Facebook users

• 27 million daily Tweets

• 1.2 billion daily YouTube views

* March 2010

Who is Using Social Media?

What Should We Use?

Facebook | Retail

Facebook | Banking

Facebook | Health Care

MD Anderson Cancer Clinic

Facebook | Healthcare

Roswell Park Cancer Institute

“A simple response is all it takes to humanize the experience.”

LinkedIn

How Should We Use It?

• Will my audience relate to it?

• Am I giving something of value to someone?

• Does this make me look knowledgeable, a resource, an expert?

Facebook | LinkedIn

Making Connection

What is Twitter?

“Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers.”

Linked Twitter Feed

Getting the word out…

1. Become A Resource

2. Access to Timely Information

3. Gain Visibility

How Much Time?• <1 hr a day for Social Media• Read and research about 30 minutes

• Blogging about 2-3 days per week• Average 5-10 tweets per day

– Assuming 30 seconds, 5 minutes per day– About 10 minutes scanning other tweets

Computer Resources

RSS = Really Simple Syndication

What Can’t Social Media Do 4U

REPLACE A MARKETING STRATEGY

DELIVER INSTANT SUCCESS

GUARANTEE INFLUENCE

SAVE A SINKING SHIP

Your Take-Aways!

1. Marketing

2. Connecting

3. Supporting

4. Educating

5. Customer Support

6. Communicating

7. Recruiting

8. Researching

• Would you hire and retain this person?

• Would have the same response?

Making It Work Together

Pitfalls….

• Lawsuits for:– Tort (defamation, intentional infliction of emotional

distress, negligence, etc.)– Copyright and trademark infringement– Breach of contract– Workplace harassment

• Regulatory and Compliancy Issues– Document retention– Trade Secrecy/Confidentiality– Privacy– Cyber bullying

Communications Decency Act (“CDA”)

• Protects Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”) and web hosts from liability (e.g., defamation) resulting from third party’s content/posts.

• Does not protect employers from content posted by employees.

Regulations Impacting Social Media

Industry or Field Regulations That May Apply

Everyone Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

Government Agencies Freedom of Information Act, State Regulations

Publicly Traded Companies Sarbanes-Oxley

Financial FINRA Notice 10-06

SEC 17a-3, 17a-4, Sweep Letter

NASD 2210, 2310, 3010, 3110

USDA Patriot Act

Healthcare HIPAA

Pharmaceuticals, Food,Supplements, Cosmetics

FDA21CFR202.1

Employee Use

• Beneficial to company but at what cost?– Productivity?

• Employer Monitoring– 2009 Study – 77% of employees who have a

Facebook account use it during work hours.

Cyberbullying

• Use of Internet to harass or torment by credible threatening or harassing message or postings

• Cyberstalking - using the Internet in a pattern of threatening or malicious behaviors toward an individual that pose a credible threat of harm – Megan Meier Story (MySpace)

Disgruntled Employee Sites

• www.rantasaurus-rex.com

• www.jobvent.com

• www.hateboss.com

• www.workrant.com

• www.rateyourjob-rateyourboss.com

• www.Glassdoor.com

Marketing Anonymity

• Who is the person or company behind the words?– Employee’s personal view– Statements on behalf of Company– Third party/independent observer

• FTC Regulations– Endorsement: “any advertising message that consumers are

likely to believe reflects the opinions, beliefs, findings or experiences of a party other than the sponsoring advertiser….”

– Disclosure of relationship of endorsees to the advertisers

• Examples of Abuse or Deception:– Paid positive postings– Employees who hype employer’s products

How To Proceed

• Determine how to meet regulatory obligations• Identify and understand all potential exposures• Document social media usage policies• Educate employees• Start small with a corporate presence• Control access and enforce compliance• Expand presence incrementally with caution

Key Social Media Considerations

• It is no longer a question of whether a social media policy is needed, it is more a matter of what that policy proscribes and how the risks associated with social media are to be managed.

• Do you presently have a document retention and governance policy that includes social media? Consider that they should be part of the same document.

• Do you have a plan for preservation and the collection of social media from a technical perspective?

• Basic key considerations for constructing that policy are:– Short and long term data storage strategies—What is being retained that does

not need to be?– Audit processes—Is there a system to monitor social media, internal and external

facing?– Enforcement Protocols—Is the appropriate access being granted or denied to

websites, users and certain functionality?– Litigation Response Plans—When the duty to preserve kicks in, is there a plan to

deploy litigation hold “in place” and to collect the data? How will it be reviewed?– Employee Education and Training Programs—Are employees aware of the

guidelines surrounding social media use and have they been properly trained?

Contact Information

Phone: 703-837-3908

Email: sweyer@stites.comFacebook: facebook.com/stephen.weyer.esq

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenweyer

Twitter: @weyer_esq

The End

• Questions?