50 Shades of Social Media: Navigating Policies, Laws, and Ethics

50 Shades of Social Media: Navigating Policies, Laws, & Ethics #14NTCshades

Debra Askanase Carly Leinheiser Ashley Lusk Farra Trompeter 1

today’s session

STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOR •

FRAMEWORK FOR MAKING ETHICAL DECIONS •

UNPACKING A CASE •

BREAKOUTS: LEGAL, POLICY, CULTURE, ONLINE •

REPORT-BACKS

50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades

WHO’S WHO


DEBRA ASKANASE

@AskDebra

CARLY LEINHEISER

@DotCarly

ASHLEY LUSK

@Arlusk

FARRA TROMPETER

@Farra

tweet

# 14NTCshades


STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOR

how human beings ought to act in

situations



ETHICS IS NOT…


feelings religion

cultural norms

the law science

•  The Utilitarian Approach: Which option will produce the most good and do the least harm?

•  The Rights Approach: Which option best respects the rights of all who have a stake?

•  The Justice Approach: Which option treats people equally

or proportionately?

•  The Common Good Approach: Which option best serves the

community as a whole, not just some members?

•  The Virtue Approach: Which option leads me to act as the sort

of person I want to be?


5 SOURCES OF ETHICAL STANDARDS



FRAMEWORK FOR MAKING ETHICAL DECISIONS

Is it an ethical issue?

•  Yes or No

Get the facts: Situational facts

•  Who is impacted

•  Options for acting

Evaluate alternative options

•  Utilitarian option

•  Rights Approach

•  Justice Approach

•  Common Good Approach

•  Virtue Approach


FRAMEWORK FOR MAKING ETHICAL DECIONS Which option is best for

my situation?

Make a decision and test it:

•  “If I told my parents,

how would they react?”

CASE STUDY

who owns Twitter followers?


http://www.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/twitter.jpg

Noah Kravitz tweeted under the name “Phonedog_Noah,” amassing 17,000

Twitter followers. He parted ways with Phonedog in October 2010. The company

originally did not object to him keeping the account, which he renamed “NoahKravitz,”

so long as he occasionally used it to promote Phonedog.

After a dispute over back wages owed to Mr. Kravtiz, Phonedog brought suit against

Mr. Kravitz in the Northern District of California for damages of $340,000, arguing

that Mr. Kravitz had misappropriated company trade secrets and converted company

property when he refused to hand over the login credentials to the old

“Phonedog_Noah” account.

The case ultimately settled. Mr. Kravitz continues to use the “NoahKravtiz”

account, which now has over 22,000 followers.


CASE STUDY

PHONEDOG V. KRAVITZ

Laws and legal norms around social media are still evolving.

Without clear guidance from statutes or case law, it is difficult

to predict the outcome of any particular case.

Whether a social media account belongs to an employee or an employer will depend

on a number of factors.

•  Who opened the account and when?

•  Was the account opened on the employee’s own initiative

or at the direction of the employer?

•  Who writes, edits, and approves the content?


CASE STUDY

LEGAL LESSONS & OUTCOMES

•  Is the account used exclusively or primarily for work or personal purposes,

or is it somewhere in between?

•  Who has access to the account? Who knows the username and password?

•  Is the account name a trademark owned by the company?

•  Is there a contract or written policy that addresses the issue?


CASE STUDY

LEGAL LESSONS & OUTCOMES

•  Communicate clearly at the beginning of the employment relationship

about whether a particular account belongs to the employee or to the

organization, and what will happen to the account if the employee

leaves.

•  Review any written social media policies with a lawyer familiar with

employment law.

•  Work with your lawyer to draft a social media policy that is narrowly

tailored to your organization’s needs, and does not violate the National

Labor Relations Act, which protects the rights of employees to engage in

“concerted action” for mutual aid and protection, including discussing

working conditions online.


CASE STUDY

A FEW POLICY DO’S & DON’TS do…


CASE STUDY

A FEW POLICY DO’S & DON’TS do not… •  Ask employees to provide login credentials for their personal social

media accounts.

•  Use an individual employee’s name as the account name on any

social media account belonging to the organization.

•  Adopt policies that violate the terms of use of applicable social media

platforms or the National Labor Relations Act.


CASE STUDY

WHO “OWNS” A SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT?

1.  An independent contractor opens a

twitter account while working for a

particular company.

2.  The twitter handle includes the

contractor’s name and the name of

the company.

3.  The twitter account is not the

company’s official account, though

one of the contractor’s job duties is

to use the account to promote the

company.

1.  The employee is the only person who

knows the password and is able to

access the account.

2.  When the contractor terminates his

relationship with the company, the

twitter account has 1,000+ followers.

3.  At the time the account was created,

the company had no clear policy

about ownership of social media

accounts.

How would you handle the following scenario?

? ? ? How can the ethical approaches identified be applied to help employees and

employers avoid disputes over social media accounts?


BREAKOUTS



BREAKOUTS

•  As an individual, should I be

worried about what I say on

my private Twitter account

getting me fired?

•  Should my organization

add a social media policy

to our employment

contracts?

•  Is it ethical to post to social

media as someone else

(ghostwriting)?

•  As a community manager, is

it okay to delete comments

or ban members or

participants?

•  What do I need to know if my

organization works with

kids? What is COPPA and

how does it apply?

•  What should I know when

working with for-profit

partners on social media or

cause marketing

campaigns?

Social Media

Policy

Ashley

Social Media

& the Law

Carly

The Culture

of Social Media

Debra/Farra

REPORT-BACKS

20 50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades

Ethical paradigm frameworks: http://bit.ly/1hJ99pd

Ethical Frameworks in Business and their Application to Social Media Marketing: http://bit.ly/1cqWvMw


REPORT-BACKS

SOCIAL MEDIA ETHICS RESOURCES

Curated Pinterest board of social media policies: http://bit.ly/1q0Zte5

Idealware social media policy development workbook:

http://bit.ly/1lwxan3

NLRB-approved sample social media policy:

http://gt-us.co/1kuQMIa

Big list of 100+ social media policies:

http://bit.ly/1fXQ5na

Social media policy checklist and guidance (slide deck): http://slidesha.re/1fXQ8PW


REPORT-BACKS

SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY RESOURCES

National Labor Relations Board Fact Sheet on Social Media: http://1.usa.gov/1kU9Xbq

Federal Trade Commission Disclosure Guidelines:

http://1.usa.gov/1mSElHW

Federal Trade Commission Guidance on Endorsements:

http://1.usa.gov/1i3KSZW

Federal Trade Commission Q&A on the Children’s Online Privacy

Protection Act: http://1.usa.gov/1n7gdxU

New York Attorney General’s Cause Marketing Guidelines: http://bit.ly/1eRosfv


REPORT-BACKS

SOCIAL MEDIA LEGAL RESOURCES

From Wikipedia: http://bit.ly/1i3KdaW

The court’s order on Defendant Kravitz’s motion to dismiss:

http://bit.ly/1kuQUHG

Views on the settlement:

http://on.mash.to/OWWy8w and http://cnet.co/OWWCoG


REPORT-BACKS

PHONEDOG CASE BACKGROUND

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50 Shades of Social Media: Navigating Policies, Laws, and Ethics