Social media is no longer a commodity reserved for personal use. It is now a vital marketing tool for virtually every business and organization. There’s a good chance that your business has a social media presence, but there’s also a good chance that you do not have a social media policy implemented. A social media policy is a written code of conduct that establishes guidelines for employees who use social media, either as part of their job or as a private person. If you believe that your company needs a social media policy, contact Denver business attorney, Mark Trenner.

If social media is used irresponsibly, it could potentially damage your company’s reputation and image. Your company could also encounter legal problems if inappropriate behavior is used on social media channels. This is why it is important to seek the advice of a business lawyer when developing a social media policy. Creating a social media policy not only holds your employees accountable for their actions online, but It also helps guide them in the right direction for adhering to the company’s values, brand image, and mission.

In addition to thinking about what kind of content and language is acceptable to post, you need to think about how you are going to respond to incoming conversation. Remember, social media is a two-way communication channel and it’s very possible that you will run into inappropriate comments that may contain vulgar or inflammatory speech. You will also most likely encounter negative comments about your company. How will you remedy this? This is why you need to call business lawyer, Mark Trenner for help creating your social media policy.

Whether it’s on personal time or company time, a social media policy can also address how employees conduct themselves on their person social media profiles. It may prohibit posting racy images, using vulgar or discriminatory language, sharing confidential material, posting illegal content, or slandering the company or its employees.

When writing a social media policy, there are many things to take into consideration. The employee handbook should include a social media policy. It can always be circulated as a stand-alone policy is you do not wish to revise the current handbook. Just be sure that you have your employees sign off on it. For a comprehensive and thorough social media policy in Denver, contact business attorney Mark Trenner.

You may be wondering if there are certain situations where you can use someone else’s copyrighted work without their consent. The short answer is no—you cannot use an entire work without the author’s permission. However, limited use of that work under certain circumstances may be acceptable under the ‘fair use’ rule.

The “fair use” rule is the belief that the public should be allowed to use limited portions of copyrighted material without permission for the purposes of criticism and/or commentary. Determining whether or not fair use is applicable can be tricky, so it’s recommended you consult a Denver copyright attorney for advice.

Fair use generally applies to the following examples of usage:

• A teacher photocopies a few passages from a work of literature for classroom discussion.
• A comedy show parodies a scene from a movie in satirical way.
• While writing a critique, a blogger quotes a few sentences from an online article he read.
• A researcher quotes a short passage from a scientific study to support her theory for a paper she is writing.

The above examples only apply to published works. Quoting or copying from unpublished works to which the author has not authorized its release, regardless of how limited, no longer falls under fair use.  In this case, you are infringing upon the authors right to decide when the work will go public.

The safest way to prevent infringement is to get permission from the author before using any parts of their work. If getting permission is an unfeasible option, it’s advisable to consult a Denver copyright attorney.