How to Lose a Job in 140 Characters

Did you know that your blog entries and tweets are considered published material, and you can be held liable for them? BYU's presentation Saturday on social media ethics addressed these and other concerns regarding legal liabilities in the social media world.

Professor and PR professional Susan Balcom emphasized a recurring theme among communications ethics: It doesn't matter if what we said or did was intentional or not; We are still accountable!

"Someone who does something and doesn't mean to should be fired. Someone who meant to should be prosecuted," Balcom said.

Social media lawsuits are a rising trend and can involve any of the following (and more):

* Tweets
* Blogs
* Message boards
* Music downloading

According to Balcom, there are only three protections for online publishers: truth (your best defense), opinion or fair comment (identify as such, but it won't protect you if it's a false statement), and qualified privilege.

With such great risk, what is a PR professional to do? Here are several tips to help you avoid social media lawsuits:

1.) Control your emotions! Counsel your client/managers to the same. Use the "I before E rule": intelligence before emotion!
2.) Choose your words carefully. Make sure there is as little opportunity as possible for them to be misinterpreted.
3.) Be accurate and truthful.
4.) Stick to the facts!

If you are in a situation when you are worried about your emotions getting the best of you, Balcom suggested the following strategies to avoid saying something you'll regret:

* Physically leave the computer area.
* Before sending the email, call someone you trust and talk it through with them.
* Save the draft or send it to yourself, then reread it the next day.
* Ask yourself: Would you say this face-to-face? Would you be comfortable seeing it in print or in court?
* Obey the 24-hour rule! If possible, just set the matter or issue aside and don't respond for 24 hours. This will give you time to calm down and approach the situation calmly and with a clear head.

If you are a blogger, it is important to have a blog moderation policy in place. The best disclaimers are clean, noticed, read and reflect what's actually occurring on the blog.

"Use others' comments or not, but don't change or edit them," Balcom said.

The key message of this session wasn't to be scared away from using social media altogether. Social media is a great and powerful tool. However, PR professionals need to stay constantly educated on how to use it correctly to avoid negative legal complications.

- Alise Cool