Ethics

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A federal appeals court in Miami held that a judge needn’t necessarily recuse herself from a case being argued by a lawyer with whom the judge is merely Facebook “friends.”

Bills in both houses of Congress propose amending Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to clarify that it doesn’t insulate website operators from liability for violating civil or criminal child-sex-trafficking laws.

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania held that an unemployment-benefits board acted appropriately when it relied, in part, on an applicant’s Facebook post to determine that the applicant was not entitled to benefits.

A Texas law makes cyberbullying punishable by as much as a year in jail and/or a fine of up to $4,000.

Google is trying to make it more difficult to find and profit from YouTube videos that contain extremist content by placing warnings on those videos and disabling the advertising on them.

A company backed by Mark Cuban is planning to create a social media platform that will anonymize its users’ identities using blockchain technology and attempt to cut down on trolls by charging people with bad reputations on the platform more for premium services.

The online publishing platform Medium is giving some of its content writers the option to put their work behind Medium’s subscription pay wall and get paid based on the number of “claps” that work gets.

Evolutionary psychologists aren’t at all surprised by the popularity of snooping on social media.

Tips for law firm marketers on how to best leverage Instagram.

Advice on how to pen the best automated out-of-office reply.

When you visit someone’s home these days, do you use the doorbell or text instead?

Google unveiled a new tool designed to combat toxic speech online by assessing the language commenters use, as opposed to the ideas they express.

Is a state law banning sex offenders from social media unconstitutional? Based on their comments during oral arguments in Packingham v. North Carolina, some U.S. Supreme Court justices may think so.

Facebook is implementing a feature that uses artificial intelligence to identify posts reflecting suicidal inclinations.

Facebook Analytics for Apps reached a significant milestone: It now supports more than 1 million apps.

So did YouTube, which recently surpassed 1 billion hours of video per day.

As many as 15% of regular social media users—that is, people, not businesses—are buying “likes” on social media?!

The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct’s warning to judges about their use of social media was prompted by this case in which a St. Lawrence County town judge used Facebook to criticize the prosecution of a town council candidate.

More than 40% of Americans incessantly check their gadgets for new messages and social media status updates, and it might be making them a little crazy.

University of Manchester researchers have developed a computer that is faster than any other because its processors are made of DNA, which allows the computer to replicate itself.

Mobile marketers can significantly increase the open rates of their push notifications by doing one simple thing: including emojis.

A woman whose “starter marriage” was covered by the New York Times wedding announcements section in 1989 might have been spared some angst if the United States had a Right to Be Forgotten, as Europe does.

New York City’s Conflicts of Interest Board has issued guidelines prohibiting elected officials from using official social media accounts for political purposes or having their staff draft content for their personal social media accounts.

Congress has begun paving the way for the deployment of autonomous vehicles.

Twitter has begun temporarily limiting its account features for users the company identifies as abusive.

Google Maps now allows users to create lists and share them with followers.

U.S. and Canadian companies can post job openings to their Facebook pages for free.

Thanks to millennials, online chat rooms are making a comeback.

With Tinder’s acquisition of the video-sharing startup called Wheel, video dating is likely in store for a revival, too.

Yelp will be offering a new feature that allows users to ask questions about a venue.

Reportedly used by political operatives ranging from White House staffers to EPA workers, encrypted messaging apps have become popular in Washington—and it’s raising legal questions.

Warren Buffet is getting into the wearables game.

Some tips for small businesses on how to manage a social media presence.

In the wake of a successful social media conference in San Francisco, Socially Aware co-editors John Delaney and Aaron Rubin are revved up and ready to chair (John) and present (Aaron and John) at another Practicing Law Institute (PLI) 2017 Social Media conference! This one will be held in New York City on Wednesday, February 15, and will be webcasted.

Attendees and webcast listeners will learn how to leverage social-media-marketing opportunities while minimizing their companies’ risks from entirely new panels of industry experts, lawyers and regulators.

Topics to be addressed will include:

  • Key developments shaping social media law
  • Emerging best practices for staying out of trouble
  • Risk mitigation strategies regarding user-generated content and online marketing
  • Legal considerations regarding use of personal devices and other workplace issues

Other special features of the conference include:

  • Regulators panel: guidance on enforcement priorities for social media and mobile apps
  • In-house panel: practical tips for handling real-world issues
  • Potential ethical issues relating to the use of social media by attorneys

The conference will end with a networking cocktail reception—a great way to meet others who share your interest in social media, mobile apps and other emerging technologies.

Don’t miss this opportunity to get up-to-date information on the fast-breaking developments in the critical area of social media and mobile apps so that you can most effectively meet the needs of your clients.

For more information or to register, please visit PLI’s website here.  We hope to see you there!

Social media is transforming the way companies interact with consumers. Learn how to make the most of these online opportunities while minimizing your company’s risk at Practicing Law Institute’s (PLI) 2017 Social Media conference, to be held in San Francisco and webcasted on Thursday, February 2nd.  The conference will be chaired by Socially Aware co-editor John Delaney, and our other co-editor, Aaron Rubin, will also be presenting at the event.

Topics to be addressed will include:

  • Key developments shaping social media law
  • Emerging best practices for staying out of trouble
  • Risk mitigation strategies regarding user-generated content and online marketing
  • Legal considerations regarding use of personal devices and other workplace issues

Other special features of the conference include:

  • Regulators panel: guidance on enforcement priorities for social media and mobile apps
  • In-house panel: practical tips for handling real-world issues
  • Potential ethical issues relating to the use of social media by attorneys

Don’t miss this opportunity to get up-to-date information on the fast-breaking developments in the critical area of social media and mobile apps so that you can most effectively meet the needs of your clients.

For more information or to register, please visit PLI’s website here.  We hope to see you there!

Because it bases its assesments on job title, location and industry, LinkedIn’s new Salary feature might be more accurate than are other online compensation estimation tools.

States are trying to pass laws that balance bereaved people’s desire to access their deceased loved ones’ social media accounts with the privacy interests of the account holders and the people with whom they corresponded. Without such laws, access to a deceased person’s digital assets might depend on the various social media platforms’ terms of use.

In lawsuits, social media has occasionally made it easier to serve process on adverse parties, but it has also made it more difficult to ensure that jurors remain unbiased.

A UK company wants to set car insurance premiums using an algorithm that analyzes car owners’ Facebook posts for pertinent personality traits?! The plan likely won’t go far; it violates Facebook’s platform policy.

Kenya deported a registered refugee for posting to social media his support of the U.N. secretary-general’s firing of a Kenyan commander of a peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, the refugee’s native country.

Thinking of posting a photo of yourself in the voting booth on Tuesday? Not so fast. In many states it’s illegal to share on social media photos of completed ballots and photos of yourself inside a voting booth. Courts all over the U.S. are hearing challenges to these so-called “ballot selfie” laws.

Does a lawyer violate ethics rules by purchasing the names of competing lawyers or law firms as keywords that improve the purchasing lawyer’s own rank in Google search results?

In the three years since its launch, an app called Scholly, which matches students with a personalized list of scholarships, has been downloaded over a million times. Here’s some advice for other social entrepreneurs from the company’s 25-year-old founder and CEO.

Some researchers believe the likes, status updates and photos posted to social media platforms will someday be the source material for breakthroughs in the field of psychiatry.

A UK solicitor was fined by a professional conduct regulator for posting a series of “unprofessional and offensive” tweets bragging about his victory over vulnerable adversaries.

Facebook signs more than $50 million worth of deals with media firms and celebrities to create videos for its live-streaming service.

Tumblr is jumping on the live video bandwagon, too—but via live-streaming platform partners, not through its own service.

C-Span picked up live feeds of the Democratic sit-in over gun-control legislation that representatives shot on Periscope, Facebook Live and other social platforms.

Twitter will now let you see when tweets are from a specific place, like a business, sports stadium, or music festival.

Is Snapchat on its way to becoming the first “social augmented reality platform”?

An Orlando prosecutor was fired for posting offensive statements about the city on social media shortly after the Pulse nightclub shooting.

A guy in Australia faces three years in jail for “criminal trolling.”

After a judge running for re-election commented on a case he was presiding over on his campaign page on Facebook, the New Mexico Supreme Court issued guidance for judges on social media use.

Social Times explains why Lego’s social media marketing efforts are worth emulating.

Twitter launched a standalone app designed to help famous people interact with their fans and build a bigger following.

Speaking of celebrities, here’s a list of seven movie stars who refuse to participate in social media.

Lots of press surrounding Microsoft’s purchase of LinkedIn: Will LinkedIn change as a result? Will the Microsoft purchase inspire a Twitter acquisition?

“Spam King” gets 30 months in jail for sending 27 million messages.

One columnist says you should stop measuring your social media marketing reach.

Twitter is now allowing brands to target ads to people based on their use of sentiment, food and passion emojis.

Entertainment streaming companies are tapping social media to learn what resonates with viewers.

Brands can now create their own ads on YouTube on the cheap using a smartphone.

Here’s an infographic illustrating how lawyers are using social media to market themselves.

Some insight into why influencer marketing works and best practices for teaming up with influencers online.

This article describes what kinds of brands are joining Snapchat, and what types of content they’re posting to the platform.

Snapchat aims to become a huge player in digital ads. Here’s how.

Social media has upended a number of industries. Is Wall Street next?

Facebook is getting into the video game live-streaming business.

Steven Avery’s defense attorney is keeping her 163,000 Twitter followers abreast of her ongoing defense work on behalf of the “Making a Murderer” documentary subject, and some lawyers think it’s a bad idea.

Five quick and easy ways to double your social media following.

Fake Internet traffic schemes will become the second-largest market for criminal organizations behind cocaine and opiate trafficking.

Bots and fraudsters are feasting on political ad dollars.

People are spending less time on social media apps these days? With Snapchat on pace to have more than 58 million active users this year, we’re skeptical.

The man who created the Internet wants to create a less centralized web with more privacy and less government and corporate control.

Should Twitter limit the number of tweets users can send each day? Other platforms see the value in limiting posts.

In the UK the number of arrests over offensive social media posts is soaring.

Research shows an alarming number of people in the UK can’t distinguish between marketing and non-commercial content on social media, indicating potential breaches of the CAP Code (the UK’s version of the FTC’s Endorsement Guides). Here’s how social media marketers in the UK can stay on the right side of the law.

Google co-founder Larry Page is secretly building flying cars.

Our attention spans are decreasing. Here’s how that should affect your brand’s website and social media strategy.

In a massive recent theft of Twitter usernames and passwords, “123456” was the most commonly used passcode by far. Sigh.

 

Defense lawyers who checked out the Facebook page of a plaintiff suing their client can be prosecuted for attorney misconduct, New Jersey judge rules.

Norwegian band changes its name to avoid “social media censorship.”

Can public agencies control their employees’ social media posts?

Google has complete discretion over whether or not to grant “right to be forgotten” requests. Some people question the sense of that.

This U.K. bar offers to save its customers from bad Tinder dates.

Why are boys at lower risk for the toxic effects of social media than girls?

New data indicates that choice of social channel, headlines and post length can maximize shares on social media.

Will the new Down to Lunch networking app continue to grow in popularity despite hitting some all-too-common social media snags?

The NYPD’s anti-encryption #UnlockJustice social media campaign fails. Big time.

These puppies earn HOW MUCH per Instagram post?! They’d better be in compliance with the FTC’s disclosure rules.

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