Robert McHale - Navigating Social Media Legal Risks: Safeguarding Your Business

Safeguarding Your Business

Robert McHale, Esq.

800 East 96th Street
Indianapolis, Indiana 46240 USA

Navigating Social Media Legal Risks: Safeguarding Your Business

Copyright 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Nor is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7897-4953-6
ISBN-10: 0-7897-4953-X

The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing: May 2012

Editor-in-Chief
Greg Wiegand
Acquisitions Editor
Rick Kughen
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Robert McHale, Esq., is the founding member of R | McHale Law (rmchale.com), a full-service law firm whose corporate practice represents clients on a wide variety of IT and intellectual property law matters, including privacy and data security, trademark, copyright, trade secrets, technology licensing, and other proprietary protections. By leveraging his business instinct, technical insight, and legal experience, Robert helps companies develop legal strategies that best promote their business objectives. His areas of focus include general corporate law, business litigation, web/mobile applications, online marketing, new media, and Internet and e-commerce technology.

Robert is a member of the Massachusetts bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts.

He is a graduate of St. Johns College (BA) and Boston University School of Law (JD).

You can reach Robert at and follow him on Twitter at @rmchalelaw.

Eric Garulay is a digital marketing and social media strategist holding the position of Digital Marketing Manager with Pearson, the worlds largest educational publisher. With fluency in both marketing and technology and a background in product marketing and media influence, Eric operates at the cutting-edge of modern publishing and media convergence. Eric is also the Founder and Executive Producer of the OnPodcast Network, a video learning series which reaches millions of viewers with free educational interviews and tutorials, on a wide variety of technology topics, featuring top technologists, authors, trainers, and inventors.

You may reach Eric at or follow him at @onpodcasts.

This book is dedicated to all my monkeys, big, small, and still growingJustin, Theo, Noah, Finn, Elsie, Sebastian, Gavin, Olivia, Jack, Ethan, Natalie, Alexandra, Max, Maddie, Winter, Jenna, Tage, Davin, Alexa, and Matthew.

I want to thank Eric Garulay for his inspiration and tremendously thoughtful contributions to this book.

I also want to thank my editor Rick Kughen in moving mountains to get this book published, and for his helpful observations throughout the editing process. For all the folks at Pearson and Que Publishing who made this book possiblethank you.

As the reader of this book, you are our most important critic and commentator. We value your opinion and want to know what were doing right, what we could do better, what areas youd like to see us publish in, and any other words of wisdom youre willing to pass our way.

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Mail: Greg Wiegand
Editor-in-Chief
Que Publishing
800 East 96th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46240 USA

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Recognizing the value of interactive communications with their customers, companies are increasingly incorporating social media into their overall communications strategies. Unlike traditional static marketing, social media is a dynamic promotional tool enabling real-time, organic conversations between companies and their customers and among customers themselves. By directly engaging with their customers, businesses are able to build audiences and reach, establish trust and digital influence, and groom evangelists who wield the power of word-of-mouth endorsements over their social circles. These spheres of influence comprise a landscape where individuals transform themselves into company spokespersons interacting directly with customers on the ever-increasingly networked and social public stage.