Don't Let Social Media Send You to the Slammer

It's so easy to break offline laws online... just think about these scenarios:

• How many Facebook accounts does each celebrity have?  Lindsay Lohan returns 454 results.  Is this identity theft?  (I once heard a story about a guy who created an account for a guy who was running for mayor.  He kept "poking" the candidate's opponent and invited him to political debates.)
• Remember the fake Exxon Mobil employee on Twitter?
• Potential defamation and libel cases abound on celebrity blogs and gossip sites that are similar to their magazine counterparts.  Real-time publishing may limit fact checking.
• Corporations often try to squash "anti" websites like WakeUpWalmart.com and People of Walmart.

As of yet there are no uniformed Internet cops that track down offenders' IP addresses, show up at their doorsteps, and demand such content be removed.  There is no book of Internet laws.  The keyword is "yet".  As web 2.0 becomes the norm, what's acceptable becomes more clearly defined.  Obviously, this makes things challenging - especially in an environment like the Internet where content appears to live forever.

For now, ethical companies, bloggers, and social media users rely on the SEC, FTC, and EU to provide guidance.  The SEC deals with financial rules, the FTC handles commerce, and the EU is for international trade (Postman 117). 

Marketing Pilgrim had a good blog about FTC regulations related to social media marketing.  Most notable is that you must disclose the fact that you're being paid to discuss something.  Although this sounds obvious, it's a detail that many forget to mention.  (I am not being paid to discuss this topic.  It is, however, a grad school assignment!)


Without concrete laws most of us try to rely on ethics while using social media online - but that is definitely enough material for another blog entry.  Actually, another blog could be devoted to ethics entirely!


Resources:

McCollum, Jordan. "Are You Breaking the Law with Social Media Marketing?." Marketing Pilgrim. N.p., 6 May 2009. Web. 4 June 2010. http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2009/05/are-you-breaking-the-law-with-social-media-marketing.html

Postman, Joel. SocialCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2009. 113-132 Print.