Discussion from Last Week

Facebook Status updates –Like Twitter’s tweets Wall –Two ends of a cell phone call Pages and Fans Apps Facebook Connect

Blogs and the Law

The fine print This session is not a replacement for researching the law!

Examples "Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon Realty thinks it's okay.” Twitter post by Amanda Bonnen Sued for $50,000. She had 17 followers

Examples Administrators discovered a photo on Stacy Snyder’s MySpace page that showed her wearing a pirate's hat and drinking from a plastic cup, with the caption "drunken pirate.” What if she hadn’t put the photo there but one of her friends did?

Legal liabilities Defamation Intellectual Property (Copyright/Trademark) Trade Secrets Right of Publicity Publication of Private Facts Privacy violations Language issues

Defamation Canada: Any communication that tends to lower the esteem of the subject in the minds of ordinary members of the public. Includes probably true statements. U.S.: False statement of fact that harms reputation and is published negligently or with intent to harm Libel is written defamation

Tangent: Venue shopping Different countries have different laws, it’s true Your content is published everywhere So be careful

Intellectual property Exclusive rights held by the originator of creations of the mind, both artistic and commercial (such as books, movies, music, paintings, photographs, and software): Copyright Patents Trademarks Moral rights

Trade secrets A trade secret is an item of non- public information concerning the commercial practices or proprietary knowledge of a business Also, confidential and/or classified information

Right of publicity The right of publicity or appropriation of personality is generally defined as an individual's right to control and profit from the commercial use of his/her name, likeness and persona

Privacy violations Publication of truthful information concerning the private life of a person that would be both highly offensive to a reasonable person and not of legitimate public concern can be deemed an invasion of privacy

Language issues Any speech controlled by the state. For example: –hate speech –racism –religious intolerance –politics –sexual aspersions

Consequences

Skanks in NYC Liskula Cohen, 37, was named and sued, asking Google to reveal the name of the blogger. Google did. “I feel my right to privacy has been violated.” – Rosemary Port

Streisand effect Streisand sued photographer Kenneth Adelman and Pictopia.com for US$50 million over a photo of her house. This picture   

Quiz ormkey=dFpia0VrdDIxSkhFQmJYNVE2Ni1 TVUE6MA

Blog Outreach

Advertising –Blogads ( –CrispAds ( –AdBrite ( –Chitika ( –Burst Media ( –Pheedo ( – ads in RSS feeds –Google AdWords – (

Sponsorhips Associate your brand with a blogger who has a proven track record by sponsoring the entire blog, or part of it (like the RSS feed) –May include advertising placement costs –Blogger salary costs –Technical upkeep costs –And anything that comes up for negotiation

Merchandise CafePress.com Spreadshirt.com Zazzle.com (I can’t vouch for this one)

Pitching bloggers To pitch coverage or events To suggest product reviews To inform/correct To build a relationship for the future

Pitching Dos and Don’ts Do contact by the blogger’s preferred method – contact form, , phone, comments Do make it personal, and show you know the blogger’s work Do read the blog! Don’t pitch bloggers who have nothing to do with what you do Don’t send a press release.