On October 23, 2009, the UC Berkeley School of Law will host an all-day conference at the Bancroft Hotel to explore some of the most pressing legal challenges, ethics issues, and policy questions related to the use of social networking websites by the public and the legal profession. I'm speaking at the event, and so is Lauren Gelman. Registration is still open.
Stanford Center for Internet and Society
In the heart of the Silicon Valley, legal doctrine is emerging that will determine the course of civil rights and technological innovation for decades to come. The Center for Internet and Society (CIS), housed at Stanford Law School and a part of the Law, Science and Technology Program, is at the apex of this evolving area of law.
Invitation -- Social Networks: Friends or Foes?
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While social networking sites seem to be remarkedly fantastic for businesses as a marketing tool and even with having a direct connection to consumers, businesses are clearly the winners. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate getting "tweets" alerting me to sales from major retailers, airlines, to my local bakery, but their is a decidedly unfriendly aspect to businesses who have such a strong focus on their virtual networks.
A dear friend of mine lost her job when she posted a negative review of a business on Yelp. To make a little extra cash as an undergraduate, she got a job as a dogwalker in Chicago. She had been fruqenting a local pet boutique for years before she was even hired at this company. Her dog got a bad haircut and she "yelped" her dissatisfaction. In addition to this, around the same time of the dramatic "puppy cut" the business owner advertised that if a customer wrote a positive Yelp review, they would be rewarded with $5 in-store credit and for every negative Yelp review, they would also be rewarded, but only $1. The "Yelp community" reacted. My friend's boss at the dog walking business found out about the Yelp review she posted through the pet boutique owner. The pet boutique owner asked her boss to have her take down the negative review. My friend told her boss, "I never identified myself as a part of your business nor did I even identify myself as a dog walker. If you had asked me to take it down ****, I gladly would have. But since [the owner of the pet boutique] asked you to have me take it down while I have spent hunderds upon hundreds of my own money there, long before I was employed by you, I simply can't betray my own principles and take it down, I'm sorry."
Another friend of mine rated her dentist on Yelp, giving him 3/5 stars and then got both a Yelp response from him to her post (along with some of her personal dental history in the post to defend his office) and a letter in the mail saying that the practice was terminating their relationship.
I have heard other horror stories stemming from Yelp and Twitter with regards to comments made by consumers about another a business they don't work for only to be fired after someone reads their comments.
I'm all for social networking as an outlet for businesses to advertise and connect with their consumers, but consumers' rights also need to be heeded when they don't have the nices "tweets" or reviews of services.
Social networking is fantastic on many levels but if you make derogatory remarks about employers, friends or partners you will find yourself in a bit of a bind so it is important to try to leave emotion aside when networking online.
Social media is just a baby. It is still growing and changing. It has the power to change the world. The recent election in Iran is a good example. I am trying to use it all as best I can.
This promises to be an interesting event as the use of social networking sites for communicating is commonplace in todays modern world. It will be nice to near the views of Lauren and yourself regarding the issues you have outlined on the 23rd.
Social networking is amazing. But like any good thing in the wrong hands, it can turn ugly. The only thing we can do is remain diligent.
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Another issue is all content written on the net is being stored in the internet archive and cached by google. so should someone want to remove it, its simply not possible, any content on the internet is there for good.
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