If you’ve engaged with social media in the past few years, the chances are high that you’ve encountered an influencer. You probably even follow them, interact with their content, and the chances are high that you’ve actually been “influenced” by at least one. Influencers are social media content creators with significant followings. They share their…
Tag: Social Media
Social Media Guidance for Employers: Hiring, Firing, and Everything in Between.
While the definition of social media is nebulous, the impact of social media is not. Social media has changed the game; while social media is great for personal interactions, relationships, and browsing, it is equally effective for business activities. Everyone has a story of how they were approached by a friend about a business opportunity…
Corporate Social Media Policies: Elon Musk & The Risk of Failure
It should come as no great shock that platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram offer organizations low-cost avenues to reach customers. The advertising upside of reaching the 2.9 billion active users of Facebook and 1 billion active users of Instagram is obvious.1 Unsurprisingly, major businesses have caught on to this fact as at least…
New York’s Highest Court Holds that Discovery of Private Social Media is Governed under Traditional Discovery Rules
Background On February 13, 2018, the New York Court of Appeals held that an individual’s private social media account receives no special protection from discovery.1 In the case, Forman v. Henkin, the plaintiff fell off a horse and sued the owner of the horse for negligence.2 The plaintiff claimed severe injuries including spinal damage, brain…
Regulation FD & Social Media: Part II – Risks
The years since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission introduced Regulation FD have been marked by remarkable developments in technology. Between 2000 and the present, investors have logged onto Facebook and Twitter, called-in trades on smartphones, and checked quotes on tablets. Publicly traded companies have embraced technology. Most corporate web sites include an investor relations…
Regulation FD & Social Media: Part I — Background
Fifteen years ago, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission established Regulation FD, 17 C.F.R. § 243 – a rule intended to combat the practice of “selective disclosure” of key information to analysts or institutional investors before it is announced to the general public.1 Under Regulation FD, where an issuer “discloses material nonpublic information” to certain…