Social Media LawyerManaging Your Online Reputation:New Tools, Old Rulesby Jeffrey C, O'Brien, Attorney at Law, Mansfield Tanick & Cohen, PA

There are limits to what one may sayonline, and two recent news headlinesreflect that fact. The first case involves theNational Labor Relations Board (NLRB),which issued a complaint against AmericanMedical Response of Connecticut, Inc.,in October 2010, alleging that the ambu-lance service company illegally terminatedan employee who posted negative remarksabout her supervisor on her personalFacebook page. The issue? While thecompany's social media policy prohibitedthe employee's postings, Section 7 of theNational Labor Relations Act providesthat "employees shall have the right toself-organization, to form, join or assistlabor organizations, to bargain collectivelythrough representatives of their ownchoosing, and to engage in other con-certed activities for the purpose of collec-tive bargaining or other mutual aid orprotection." The NLRB decided that "con-certed activities" included an employee'sright post remarks on his or her Facebookpage, notwithstanding the company'ssocial media policy which states otherwise.

The second case is a more traditionaldefamation case involving rocker CourtneyLove, who is the defendant in a pendingsuit brought by a fashion designer basedupon unflattering comments made by Lovevia her Twitter account. The lawsuit againstLove is a fine example of how the newsocial media tools are still governed by

Wat in the world does "unicornmeat" have to do with manag-ing the online reputation of

you and/or your business? Plenty, soread on.

In the last issue of CIC Midwest News,I wrote about the importance of the widearray of social media tools to promoteyour business. As an attorney, however,I would be remiss if I did not follow thatarticle up with another regarding thepitfalls that can result when feathers areruffled online.

traditional legal rules (in this case, the lawof defamation), and if one tweets or postssomething that negatively affects another'sreputation, legal action may ensue.

In other instances, especially in the CICcontext, managing your or your company'sreputation and what is said about youonline is not as clear cut. What do youdo if residents of your communities postnegative statements about your companyon a social media site? What if negativeinformation is shared regarding a boardmember in one of your communities?Should you immediately engage an attor-ney and proceed with a cease-and-desist

letter? That's the common first step in legalaction for defamatory statements. Inthese situations, a bit of creative think-ing is in order, rather than resorting in aknee-jerk fashion to traditional methodsof enforcement.

Which brings me to canned unicorn meat.Several years ago ThinkGeek, a Web sitedevoted to selling gadgets, nerdy T-shirtsand brainy games, decided to sell somefake products for April Fool's Day on itsWeb sites. Now its sale is a yearly tradi-tion. 2010's offering was "Canned UnicornMeat," which was billed as "an excellentsource of sparkles." ThinkGeek chose asthe tagline for its nonexistent delicacy"Unicorn, the New White Meat."

Apparently, the National Pork Board, anorganization devoted to pork and relatedbusinesses and farms, did not find theproduct ad as funny as the rest of us.Instead, it saw a threat to the nationalbrand of pork, otherwise known as "the

other white meat."So the organizationengaged its large,national outside lawfirm to sendThinkGeek a cease-and-desist letter,which it did - twelvepages in total.

O'BRIENNot surprisingly, thecease-and-desist letter was not onlyignored - if you go to ThinkGeek's web-site, the unicorn meat ad is still there - itwas lampooned in a blog post entitled"The Best Cease and Desist Letter We'veEver Received." The whole episoderesulted in negative publicity for theNational Pork Board and its attorneys(who shall remain nameless in this articlefor fear of them sending another letter).

I use the unicorn meat story as a humorousway of advising companies that there arelikely better alternatives to an onlineepithet than legal action. Some expertsadvocate for filling cyberspace withstrategically worded online posts con-taining positive information about yourcompany (in order to push the negativestatements onto later pages of Googlesearches). While others suggest that astrong customer service presence online(one that monitors negative statementsabout a company and intercedes to quicklyaddress the complaint) is the best option.

For management companies involved inCICs, the new world of social media isinevitably going to create a new set ofheadaches when it comes to residentrelations. Nonetheless, with a properstrategy for responding, these issues canbe handled effectively and efficiently. -

Jeffrey C. O'Brien is an attorney withMansfield Tanick & Cohen, P.A. He canbe reached at 612-341-1263 or viaemail atjobrien@mansfieldtanick.com.

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