Jessica Wang Randy Cadenhead Sutherland Cox Communications Social Networks And the Nonprofit Jessica Wang Randy Cadenhead Sutherland Cox Communications July 15, 2009

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Social Networks And the Nonprofit Agenda About Social Networks Opportunities Issues Policies

About Social Networks Yesterday - Online Social Networks date from 1995 Classmates.com – 1995 Myspace.com – 2003 Facebook – 2004-2006 Yahoo 360 - 2005 Twitter - 2006

Today – “Web 2.0” Facebook – 200 million users MySpace – 60 million user visits/month Twitter – 1400% user growth 2008-09 LinkedIn – 36 million users

Tomorrow – “Web 3.0 = Social Media” “Viral” Growth Constant Change New Opportunities New Place for Old Issues

Social Media – Communication Facebook, MySpace Collaboration Multimedia Reviews Entertainment Facebook, MySpace Wikipedia, Digg Flickr, YouTube Epinions, Jobeehive Second Life

Opportunities Agency Promotion Sites Employee and Volunteer Personal Sites Client Location and Feedback from Social Networks Volunteer Recruiting Fund Raising Opportunities

Agency Accounts – Advantages Issues Time costs Negative Comments Positive PR Low cost communications Fundraising Issues Time costs Negative Comments Monitoring Supervision Privacy/Confidentiality Hacking/Impersonation

Employees and Volunteer Personal Posts Unsponsored References by Others Valuable PR Expanding your circle of contacts But Issues Include Quality of messaging Posting of personal opinions Confidentiality/Privacy Defamation

Friends and Clients Word of Mouth “viral” buzz Issues Include Lack of control Defamation

Client Identification and Feedback Virtual “cries for help” Testimonials But Issues Include Confidentiality Negative PR

Volunteer Recruiting Fundraising Opportunities

Issues Employment Issues: Employers can vet potential employees A non-decisionmaker should first filter out sensitive information like age or religion

Issues, continued Potential liability for employers Some courts have found employers liable for online actions of employees Defamation, harassment Should employers terminate or discipline employees for their online activity? Little case law to guide us—but watch out for discrimination or anti-retaliation allegations Consider the effect on PR and workplace morale

Issues, continued Intellectual Property Issues Copyright or trademark infringement Loss of protection of trade secrets

Policy Pointers Control the statements that might be attributed to the non-profit Monitor and police the online activity that you require of your employees Consider public perception, legal repercussions, and business repercussions

Policy Pointers, continued Many employer policies prohibit the following: Directly making defamatory statements Lashing out at supervisors or coworkers Making harassing statements about coworkers Discussing controversial topics while disclosing a connection with the employer Disclosing trade secrets

Policy Pointers, continued Key aspects of a good policy: Cover all postings and sites (Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc.) Be specific about expectations Provide contact person for questions Employee is responsible for own posts and may be liable Employee should respect copyright laws, harassment laws, and so on

For More Information: If you would like more information about the services of Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta, contact us at: Phone: 404-407-5088 Fax: 404-853-8806 Info@pbpatl.org www.pbpatl.org