This document summarizes a presentation on navigating social media policies, laws, and ethics. It discusses establishing standards of behavior, making ethical decisions using various frameworks, and unpacking a case study about who owns social media accounts and followers when an employee leaves a company. The presentation included breakout groups discussing social media policy, law, and culture, followed by reporting back and sharing resources on social media ethics and policy development.

1. 50 Shades of Social Media:
Navigating Policies, Laws,
& Ethics
#14NTCshades
Debra Askanase
Carly Leinheiser
Ashley Lusk
Farra Trompeter1

2. 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

3. WHO’S WHO
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades
DEBRA
ASKANASE
@AskDebra
CARLY
LEINHEISER
@DotCarly
ASHLEY
LUSK
@Arlusk
FARRA
TROMPETER
@Farra

4. tweet
# 14NTCshades
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades

5. STANDARDS
OF BEHAVIOR
how human beings
ought to act in
situations
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades

6. STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOR
ETHICS IS NOT…
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades
feelings
religion
cultural
norms
the lawscience

7. • 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?
STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOR
5 SOURCES OF ETHICAL STANDARDS
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades

8. 50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades
FRAMEWORK FOR MAKING
ETHICAL DECISIONS

9. 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
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades
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?”

10. CASE STUDY
who owns Twitter
followers?
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades
http://www.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/twitter.jpg

11. 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.
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades
CASE STUDY
PHONEDOG V. KRAVITZ

12. 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?
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades
CASE STUDY
LEGAL LESSONS & OUTCOMES

13. • 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?
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades
CASE STUDY
LEGAL LESSONS & OUTCOMES

14. • 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.
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades
CASE STUDY
A FEW POLICY DO’S & DON’TS
do…

15. 50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades
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.

16. 50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades
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?

17. ??How can the ethical approaches identified
be applied to help employees and
employers avoid disputes over social
media accounts?
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades

18. BREAKOUTS
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades

19. 50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades
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

20. REPORT-BACKS
20
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades

21. Ethical paradigm frameworks: http://bit.ly/1hJ99pd
Ethical Frameworks in Business and their Application to Social Media
Marketing: http://bit.ly/1cqWvMw
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades
REPORT-BACKS
SOCIAL MEDIA ETHICS RESOURCES

22. 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
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades
REPORT-BACKS
SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY RESOURCES

23. 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
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades
REPORT-BACKS
SOCIAL MEDIA LEGAL RESOURCES

24. 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
50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades
REPORT-BACKS
PHONEDOG CASE BACKGROUND

25. What did you think?
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50 SHADES OF SOCIAL MEDIA #14NTCshades