The rise of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn has been a boon to companies and brands in search of new and innovative marketing forums. They allow companies to interact with new and existing customers on a micro-level and respond to consumer demands in real time. Yet these same social media sites are a bane to in-house and outside counsel alike, creating legal thickets in previously unknown areas. One particular area that has been complicated by social media sites involves this very simple question: Who owns social media assets accessed or controlled by company employees?
Answering this question requires first identifying the component parts of a social media account:
- First, there is basic user information, such as an accounts username and password.
- Second, there is user-generated content such as text, pictures, and links posted to the users profile and to the profiles of others.
- Finally, there are the relationships that users form with other users, which are the driving force behind social media sites.
Each of these components of social media accounts present companies with unique ownership issues that are not universally addressed by corporate polices, social media terms of use, or existing legal remedies. Understanding how to navigate these issues is thus crucial to a companys protecting its ownership of social media assets.
