Social media - a brisk stroll through the minefield

In brief - Social media brings both new risks and new opportunities

Social media provides businesses with a new avenue to communicate with their customers. However, social media also creates significant legal and reputational risks for businesses which embrace it and even those which do not.

Immediacy and reach of social media amplifies risks

Any communication between a business and the public can give rise to complex issues that span various areas of law including privacy, intellectual property, employment, discrimination and defamation. In that sense social media is not unique; what is unique about social media is that those risks can be magnified and can manifest in a short period of time.