Navigating Social Media Legal Risks: Safeguarding Your Business
- By Robert McHale
- Published May 4, 2012 by Que. Part of the Que Biz-Tech series.
- Register your product - get bonus material or coupon.
- Book
- ISBN-10: 0-7897-4953-X
- ISBN-13: 978-0-7897-4953-6
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
Related Articles
Legal Guidelines for Developing Social Media Policies and Governance Models
Monitoring, Regulating, and Disciplining Employees Using Social Media
|
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Essential Reading For Business Owners - Highly Recommended, By
This review is from: Navigating Social Media Legal Risks: Safeguarding Your Business (Que Biz-Tech) (Paperback)
"Navigating Social Media Legal Risks" is important reading not only for businesses wanting to leverage social media, but also for businesses with employees that use social media sites (which is just about everyone these days). We are small business owners that have Facebook and Twitter accounts and we have PCs that we allow our employees to use during the day. While we knew there were legal regulations that applied to business promotions on our website and over Facebook, we did not know that in some instances we could be held accountable for our employee's posts on social media, even if we were unaware of the content. This was a real eyeopener in many areas that I thought were fairly straight forward but would in fact have left us subject to possible litigation, especially in the "Human Resources" area.This is a very well written book that avoids legal jargon, presenting the information in easy to understand language the layman can follow. The subjects cover business... Read more
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Definitive guide to social media law for the layman,
This review is from: Navigating Social Media Legal Risks: Safeguarding Your Business (Que Biz-Tech) (Paperback)
In the documentary Scared Straight! a group of inmates terrify young offenders in an attempt to "scare them straight"" (hence the film's title) so that those teenagers will avoid prison life. A 2002 meta-analysis of the results of a number of scared straight and similar intervention programs found that they actively increased crime rates, leading to higher re-offense rates than in control groups that did not receive the intervention.For those considering the use of social media in their business, it is quite easy to read Navigating Social Media Legal Risks: Safeguarding Your Business as a scared straight type of reference. Author Robert McHale provides so many legal horror stories, that most people would simply be too afraid of the legal and regulatory risks to every consider using social media. But the reality is that social media is becoming required for nearly every business. With that, Navigating Social Media Legal Risks, author and attorney Robert... Read more
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Practical, thorough and easy to read., By
This review is from: Navigating Social Media Legal Risks: Safeguarding Your Business (Que Biz-Tech) (Paperback)
Finally! A well researched and documented book that enables you to understand the implications of what you, your company and your users can and should do on all the social media platforms.If you have been trying to walk a fine line in terms of branding, or contests, or user generated content, or pre-employment research - this is the book that will let you know what might get you in trouble. The writing in this book is accessible and designed for a marketing professional (as opposed to a legal professional), but its extensive appendices provide all the references a lawyer will demand. "Navigationg Social Media Legal Risks" is the definitive guide for marketing and community managers as well as a great place to start for corporate legal staff. |
Online Sample Chapter
Social Media Promotion Law: Contests and Sweepstakes
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
How This Book Is Organized
Who Should Use This Book?
Features of This Book
A Quick Note about U.S. Legal System
Legal Disclaimer
1 Social Media Promotion Law: Contests and Sweepstakes
Online Promotions
Sweepstakes Laws
Contest Laws
Lottery Laws
Potential Legal Issues Associated With Public Voting
Keeping Social Media Promotional Campaigns Legal
Online Promotions Outside the United States
Sweepstakes Versus Illegal Online Gambling
Platform-Specific Guidelines
Google+
2 Online Endorsements and Testimonials: What Companies and Their Employees Can and Cannot Tweet, Blog, or Say
Fundamental Principles of Endorsements and Testimonials
Endorsement or Not?
Determining Liability
Making Necessary Disclosures
Hyperlinked Disclosures
General Rules for Disclosures
Disclosures in Social Media
Lessons Learned from FTC Investigative and Enforcement Actions
3 The [Mis]Use of Social Media in Pre-Employment Screening
The Fair Credit Reporting Act
Real-World Examples
FTC v. Social Intelligence Corp
FTC v. the Marketers of 6 Mobile Background Screening Apps
Robins v. Spokeo, Inc
4 Monitoring, Regulating, and Disciplining Employees Using Social Media
Employee Monitoring
Employer Regulation
Employee Discipline for Social Media Use
Ambulance Service Provider
Chicago Luxury Car Dealer
Advice Memoranda
Lawfully Disciplining Employees
5 Social Media in Litigation and E-Discovery: Risks and Rewards
E-Discovery of Social Media
The Stored Communications Act
Authenticating Social Networking Site Evidence at Trial
6 Managing the Legal Risks of User-Generated Content
Copyright in the Age of Social Media
Direct Infringement
Contributory Infringement
Vicarious Infringement
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
Defamation, Invasion of Privacy, and CDA Immunity
Limitations of CDA Immunity
7 The Law of Social Advertising
The FTC Act
Best Practices for Social Media Advertising
Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act
The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
COPPA Enforcement
Proposed Changes to COPPA
Summation
8 Trademark Protections from Brandjacking and Cybersquatting in Social Networks
Notable Cases of Brandjacking and Cybersquatting
Trademark Infringement Under the Lanham Act
The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA)
Post-Domain Path Names and the ACPA
Platform-Specific Trademark Enforcement Mechanisms
Twitter Policies
LinkedIn Policies
Facebook Policies
Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution
9 Balancing Gamification Legal Risks and Business Opportunities
Unfair and Deceptive Marketing Practices
FTC Guidelines on Endorsements
Legal Status of Virtual Goods
The Credit CARD Act of 2009
Other Little-Known Laws Relating to Virtual Currencies
Location-Based Services
Designing a Precise Geolocation Data Security Plan
10 Social Media’s Effect on Privacy and Security Compliance
Privacy Compliance
Security Compliance
11 Legal Guidelines for Developing Social Media Policies and Governance Models
Vital Corporate Social Media Policy Provisions
Recommended Social Media Marketing Policies
12 Looking Ahead at Social Media Business Opportunities, Expectations, and Challenges
A Table of Legal Authorities
B The Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914
C The Lanham Act—Section 43(a)
D The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA)
E Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
F Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA)
G Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule
H FTC’s Revised Guides Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising
I Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act of 2003
J The Copyright Act
K Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA)
L Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
M Electronic Communications Privacy Act
N National Labor Relations Act
O The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006
P Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996
Sample Pages
Download the sample pages (includes Chapter 1 and Index)
This book includes free shipping!
This book includes free shipping!
eBook (Watermarked)
$23.99
$19.19
Includes EPUB, MOBI, and PDF
About eBook formats
This eBook includes the following formats, accessible from your Account page after purchase:
EPUBThe open industry format known for its reflowable content and usability on supported mobile devices.
MOBIThe eBook format compatible with the Amazon Kindle and Amazon Kindle applications.
PDFThe popular standard, used most often with the free Adobe® Reader® software.
This eBook requires no passwords or activation to read. We customize your eBook by discretely watermarking it with your name, making it uniquely yours.
- Request an Instructor or Media review copy
- Corporate, Academic, and Employee Purchases
- International Buying Options
Get access to thousands of books and training videos about technology, professional development and digital media from more than 40 leading publishers, including Addison-Wesley, Prentice Hall, Cisco Press, IBM Press, O'Reilly Media, Wrox, Apress, and many more. If you continue your subscription after your 30-day trial, you can receive 30% off a monthly subscription to the Safari Library for up to 12 months. That's a total savings of $199.
