Social Media and Its Ability to Power or Short Circuit Your Enterprise

Social Media and Its Ability to Power or Short Circuit Your Enterprise

Presented by Loeb attorneys:

• Mark Goldberg, Partner, Employment and Labor Practice
• Richard M. Lorenzo, Partner and Co-Chair, Antitrust Practice; Partner, Energy Practice

Social media's ever-growing popularity offers organizations the opportunity to interact with their customers on a personal level like never before. But it is important to understand the far-reaching power it has to potentially enhance or undermine your business. This is especially true for energy and utility companies, for which social media can be an invaluable asset in emergency situations when critical information must be disseminated quickly and to as many people as possible. With such an influential tool, significant caveats exist: the far-reaching and enduring nature of social media networks may subject information distributed therein to the laws of multiple jurisdictions and attract increased attention from regulatory authorities; the interactivity and ease-of-use can lead to brand dilution or accidental disclosure of confidential information; and a lack of clear internal social media policies can lead to significant HR/employment issues.

This roundtable discussion will feature the unique perspectives of these issues from energy, employment and advertising/media viewpoints and will address:

• Examples and pros and cons of social media
• Legal risks unique to social media and wireless platforms and services
• Creating an internal social media policy and related employment issues
• Using social media in advertising and PR and to interact with customers and the public
• Counsel's ethical obligation to remain abreast of cloud and social media developments
• Concerns unique to the energy and utility industries
• Preparation for future regulations that may require utilities to use social media