Who owns social media accounts

But then there are the hundreds of millions of individual accounts, including in the hands of employees. What new challenges do employers face as a result? One of the biggest threats is to corporate information security. Social media companies have succeeded, through incessant and automated behavioral conditioning, in convincing an entire generation of workers that sharing is a good thing. And sharing more is even better. That is what many employees do in the evening on their smartphones: reveal everything about what is going on in their lives.

If they want to complain, why not troll management anonymously of course for its blunders? The inclination toward sharing, reinforced constantly by social media, represents a serious challenge that can only be addressed through training and consistent management, providing the antidote of a culture of confidentiality. But getting back to the more specific set of problems reflected in the litigation filed against Mr.

Bitter, the good news is that managing these accounts, and separating the personal from the corporate, is straightforward.

It begins with establishing and communicating a company policy about the use and ownership of social media. It may be best simply to prohibit employee use of personal accounts for any company business. But if you allow it, employees should be obligated by contract to provide access and to transfer ownership and control when asked, or at termination. A word about managing the risk of new hires. As for suing departing employees over their Twitter accounts, be careful what you ask for.

In addition to provoking the rage of many of his followers, the Roanoke Times was just countersued by Mr. Bitter for defamation.

Remember, the emotionalism that drives trade secret litigation can take it in unpredictable directions. Jim has a private law practice in Silicon Valley where he specializes in trade secret litigation and counseling. For more than 40 years, Jim represented clients in high-stakes trade secret and patent disputes. His broad litigation experience, combined with his service as an international diplomat and business executive, make him uniquely qualified to serve as advisor, co-counsel, expert or ADR neutral he is a panel member of FedArb in trade secret disputes, and to consult with companies about trade secret management.

Read more. How can you protect your business? Create a social media ownership policy, and include the following fundamental elements. Always be sure to consult with an attorney or HR professional when creating compay policies. This is a no-brainer. It should not be used in any other way by anyone who is not part of, or affiliated with, your company.

It should also say that no new company usernames may be created at any time without express permission from company leadership.

Work for hire means the content employees create is part of their job. Even if they have not specifically signed a work-for-hire agreement, work for hire is automatically implemented when someone becomes an employee of your company. Also include language about content an employee may not consider to be work for hire.

This is to cover yourself if there is any disagreement. PhoneDog, a tech review site, hired Noah Kravitz to help out with their social media marketing. When he left the company, PhoneDog wanted the account back, but he simply changed it to NoahKravitz and continued tweeting to the same followers.

PhoneDog sued, and while the case is still proceeding, the company has had some success thus far in court. There is, however, a long way to go before PhoneDog can establish rights in the account and collect damages from Kravitz.

To have 17, social media followers being hijacked by a rogue employee is a nightmare situation for any employer. Eagle v. Linda Eagle, the owner of a financial services company, created a LinkedIn account for business and personal purposes. Eagle filed suit in federal court, claiming 11 causes of action, including identity theft. The company countersued on the grounds that it was the company itself, not Eagle, who was primarily responsible for developing the content and connections found on the LinkedIn account.