Social Media Policy … Why You Need One Now.

Last fall, Jaffe published a social media policy to share with the legal community.  If you haven’t adapted one at your firm, we urge you to reconsider.

Even if your law firm hasn’t codified the way employees are engaging online, even if your firm doesn’t have an official blog, Facebook page or LinkedIn group, even if you’re at a firm that blocks access to social networks entirely (and we urge you to reconsider that policy quickly), your employees are already there.

Being engaged in social networks has enormous value to your firm. Through them, you can establish thought leadership, find new recruits, provide a more efficient way for potential clients to find you online, and participate in and monitor discussions about the issues that impact your clients and your firm.

To achieve the first three benefits, however, requires participation by members of your firm. This group extends beyond your marketing and public relations representatives or a single spokesperson for your firm, all of whom are already well versed in the strategic and prudent disclosure of information. Best practices can be applied firm-wide that help achieve your business goals and protect you. For starters, that means understanding both the legal ramifications of online engagement and the fuzzier, but no less important, implications of the use of the virtual microphone or TV station to enhance your firm’s reputation.

The first thing you must do is create a social media policy or modify an existing policy that is free and available for you to borrow.

Here is our newest version, which we’ve recently streamlined.  Feel free to use it for yours: 

NOTE: There is a high likelihood that many people at your company are participating in social media.  They may have their own blogs or contribute to them, add information on wikis, participate in social networks such as Facebook or MySpace, keep profiles on Delicious and feed the Twitter stream. 

Whatever form your employees’ social media activity takes, we strongly recommend instituting a set of social media guidelines or a formal policy so that everyone understands how their social media activity fits into the workplace.

We at Jaffe PR made our best effort several months ago to outline a comprehensive set of Social Media policies and procedures which are meant to be used as a guideline. Today we are offering an updated set of policies and procedures (see below).  When you do implement a social media policy at your firm, we strongly suggest you give consideration to your own standards and culture in customizing them for your firm.    

Furthermore, we must impress upon you the need to be familiar with the ethics rules of the states in which you operate.

 (FIRM NAME) Social Media and Social Networking Policies and Procedures

Today, social media encompass a broad sweep of online activity, all of which is track-able and traceable. These networks include not only the blogs you write and those to which you comment, but also social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, professional networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and social bookmarking sites such as Digg and Delicious. Every day, it seems, new online tools and new advances introduce new opportunities to build your virtual footprint.

As a firm, we believe that social media can drive business and support your professional development efforts. We are also aware that social media use will not be used exclusively for business. Keeping that in mind, we attempt here to provide reasonable guidelines for online behavior by members of our firm when participating online on behalf of our firm. As new tools on the Web are introduced, and new challenges emerge for all of us, this document will, of necessity, evolve.

The information below represents our firm’s latest policy regarding social media and social networking.

YOUR IDENTITY ONLINE

1.  You are accountable for what you post. You are personally responsible for any of your online activity conducted with a firm email address, and/or which can be traced back to the firm’s domain, and/or which uses firm assets. The (FIRM DOMAIN).com address attached to your name implies that you are acting on the firm’s behalf. When you use a firm email address or firm assets to engage in any social media or professional social networking activity (for example LinkedIn and Legal OnRamp), all actions are public, and attorneys (and staff?) will be held fully responsible for any and all said activities.

2.  Outside the workplace, your rights to privacy and free speech protect online activity conducted on your personal social networks with your personal email address. However, what you publish on such personal online sites should never be attributed to the firm and should not appear to be endorsed by or originated from the firm. If you choose to list your work affiliation on a social network, then you should regard all communication on that network as you would on a professional network. Online lives are ultimately linked, whether or not you choose to mention the firm in your personal online networking activity.

3.  Be transparent. When participating in any online community, disclose your identity and affiliation with the firm, your clients, and your professional and/or personal interest. When posting to a blog, always use your name. Never create an alias, and never be anonymous.

4. Follow the rules in the firm’s (Employee Staff Manual). These rules also apply to employee behavior within social networking and other public online spaces.

5. Follow the terms and conditions of use that have been established by each venue used for your social networking activities.

6. Obey the law. Don’t post any information or conduct any online activity that may violate applicable local, state or federal laws or regulations.

7. Never be false and misleading in your online credentials. Attorneys and other professional staff members MUST maintain complete accuracy in all of their online bios and ensure there is no embellishment. For example – a lawyer attends a CLE course at Harvard for a weekend and states in his/her bio - “Harvard trained” - this is inaccurate and noncompliant with the rules.
Use the words “expert” or “specialized” very sparingly and only when such claims can be substantiated and are approved for usage by the appropriate state bar association.

8.  Never participate in Social Media when the topic being discussed may be considered a crisis situation. Even anonymous comments may be traced back to your or (COMPANY)’s IP address. Refer all Social Media activity around crisis topics to PR and/or Legal Affairs Director.

CREATING AND MANAGING CONTENT

1. Be direct, informative and brief. Follow your state bar’s ethics rules regarding social networking.

2. Never use a firm client’s name in a blog posting, unless you have written permission to do so.

3. Credit appropriately. Identify all copyrighted or borrowed material with citations and links.

4. When publishing any material online that includes another’s direct or paraphrased quotes, thoughts, ideas, photos, or videos, always give credit to the original material or author, where applicable.

5. Fact-check your posts. Always evaluate your contribution’s accuracy and truthfulness.  Before posting any online material, ensure that the material is accurate, truthful, and without factual error.

6.  If you choose to write about competition or opposing points of view, make sure to have all the facts checked and have the appropriate permissions from your company.

7.  Correct errors promptly. If you find that your blog entry contains an error or mistake, correct it. Since transparency is key, admit your mistake, apologize if necessary, correct it and move on.

8.  While a blog itself is not subject to the limitation on commercial speech, the content of a blog can be. The content must be informative only, and nothing in the content should propose a commercial transaction or be used for the purpose of directly gaining a commercial transaction. The threshold question to ask is the following: – Does the content articulate commercial speech in any way? If so, it’s likely that it will be subject to state rules.

LEAVING COMMENTS

1.  When posting to a blog, make your comments meaningful and respectful.
Refrain from posting about controversial or potentially inflammatory subjects, including politics, sex, religion or any other non-business related  subjects.
2. Keep the tone of your comments respectful and informative, never condescending or “loud”. Use sentence case format, not capital letters. Stick to this maxim whenever you are contributing to any blogs or social and professional networks.
 
3. Avoid personal attacks, online fights, and hostile communications. If a blogger or any other online influencer posts a statement with which you disagree, voice your opinion, but do not escalate the conversation to a heated argument. Write reasonably, factually, and with good humor. Understand and credit the other person’s point of view and avoid any communications that could result in personal, professional, or credibility attacks.

CONFIDENTIALITY AND PRIVACY

1.  Don’t disclose confidential information. Honor the terms of your contracts with the firm and contracts we have with any client. Do not disclose or use confidential or proprietary information of the firm or any client in any form of online media. Sharing this type of information, even unintentionally, can result in legal action against you, the firm, and/or the client.

2.  Avoid forums where there is little control over what you know to be confidential information. In the world of social networking, there is often a breach of confidentiality when someone emails an attorney 3.  Posts a comment congratulating him/her on representation of a specific client or on a specific case. Often these things are being discussed in the social network circles – it’s how attorneys are establishing credibility – so be very selective and thoughtful about where you post and how you reply (or not).


3. Respect the privacy of your partners and associates and of the opinions of others. Before you share a comment, post, picture, or video about a client or another attorney through any type of social media or network, consent is not only a courtesy, it is also a requirement.

POTENTIAL CONFLICTS AND RED FLAGS

Get approval for a post when:

1.  Responding to a negative post. If a blogger or any other online participant posts an inaccurate, accusatory or negative comment about the firm or any firm clients, do not engage in the conversation without prior approval of (NAME).

2.  Posting recommendations for colleagues. Posting recommendations for colleagues is a tool of professional social networking sites. The recommendations and comments you post about other current and former firm attorneys can have consequences, even if you are making the recommendations personally and not on behalf of the firm. Therefore, we ask that you clear all potential recommendations and comments with (NAME) for anyone who is or was ever associated with the firm (NOTE: or give time limit, such as “anyone associated with the firm in the past x# years”).
If you are contacted directly by a journalist regarding issues of concern to the firm, clear the query with (NAME) before responding to any journalist.

Other potential red flag situations:

3.  Check your state’s particular prohibitions against and/or limitations on testimonials before posting them online.
Use a disclaimer if you communicate electronically about fees, awards, recent cases or case outcomes. (NOTE TO FIRM: DO YOU WANT TO REQUIRE PRIOR APPROVAL FOR  THIS?)

4.  Be aware that attorney-client relationships may be created online;  this often occurs in social media whether you want it to or not. Use of a firm approved disclaimer may be appropriate. (NOTE TO FIRM: Some firms are building in pop-up boxes that stop someone from emailing an attorney and require them to accept the terms of a disclaimer before emailing information that could constitute an attorney-client relationship.)

BUILDING YOUR VIRTUAL FOOTPRINT AND YOUR NETWORK

1.  Build a reputation of trust among your clients, media and the public. When you are reaching out to journalists, bloggers, clients, or colleagues through social media, take every opportunity to build a reputation of trust and establish yourself as a credible and transparent legal professional.

2.  Don’t use your own personal online relationships or the firm’s network to influence polls, rankings, or web traffic.

3.  When using social networks with your firm e-mail and professional identification, do not “friend” anyone whom you either do not actually know and/or with whom you have not previously corresponded.

Intellectual Property Notice:
The material contained in this material may be protected under various intellectual property laws, including copyright and trademark. Unless otherwise stated, this material is and remains the intellectual property of Jaffe PR, and all rights are reserved. No part of this material may be incorporated, reproduced, republished, distributed, transmitted, displayed, broadcast or otherwise exploited in any manner, except for the internal use and analysis by the requesting firm, without the express prior written permission of Jaffe PR. Jaffe PR's names, logos, related trademarks and other intellectual property are the property of Jaffe PR and cannot be used without its express prior written permission.  © 2009-2010 Jaffe PR. All rights reserved.