When it comes to the legal issues surrounding social channels, many of us can feel at best inadequately prepared, or at worst it’s not in our remit.
The latter is, of course, a dangerous attitude to have. As the countless brands, corporations and celebrities who have fallen foul of a #fail comment, ‘doh’ campaign and “hack-ed” off employee will attest.
Our recent event held in central London brought together a panel from across legal, comms and media. Led by Dean Russell, LEWIS PR’s European Social Media Director, the discussion around the trends, common pitfalls and approaches to social and the UK law could have gone on far longer than the time allowed. Emma Woollcott, Associate, at law firm Mishcon De Reya kicked off discussions by setting the scene with potential hazard areas are and recent examples. Emma could not have been clearer on the her st
ance: the hazards out there are multiple, “it’s just that some are toxic and some are mere irritations.”
Ray Snoddy OBE, the journalist and television presenter was understandably cynical. However, in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry, and subsequent proposed press reforms, he pointed out how surprising it was that only “one page out of 1900″ of the Leveson report, focused on the media’s approach to social media.
Keith Beech, Head of Content at LEWIS PR and Amanda Coleman, Communications Director, Greater Manchester Police approached it from a campaign perspective. Social has opened up new possibilities for brands to talk to the people who matter – the customer. And as Keith stated upfront “applying plain common sense” can mean the positives far outweigh the negatives. Amanda was in no doubt that her force’s commitment to social media had “helped Greater Manchester Police to engage much more positively with people in the area”.
The session ended with the panel divided on exactly what the future held. All agreed that more and more people will go online but how many of those conversations will fall foul of the law remains to be seen. However, Ray had the final word which seemed to allay concerned audience members. That in five years social media will be just another communications channel, treated in the same regard as any other.
Look out for a paper we’ll be publishing on the topic shortly that will look at the many facets discussed at the event.
What are your experiences of social and policies related to it? Do you feel risk-ready?