It is virtually impossible to download an app, browse the web, or read a magazine without being invited to Like, Friend, Follow, Pin, post, link, contact, comment, or otherwise engage with companies via social media. Companies increasingly use social media advertising to attract the attention of existing and new customers. According to McKinsey & Co., by 2016 nearly half of companies expect to use social media as their “primary digital tool” to reach customers.1 And yet social media also is an increasingly important way that companies may attract the attention of courts.
In an interesting new development, courts have begun to include a company’s social media-based outreachthrough Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.in the “minimum contacts” analysis for personal jurisdiction.
