Do We Need #consent?

While numerous companies now maintain an active presence on Twitter, the extent to which brands can lawfully interact with other Twitter users for advertising and similar commercial purposes is still not yet clearly defined and, consequently, the legal risk associated with each tweet is not always properly weighed before a promotional social media campaign is launched. It is tempting to assume that, because a tweet is so fleeting, it is unnecessary to jump through the typical legal hoops to clear the content before it is posted on Twitter. But what appears to be a harmless, transitory post may later give rise to a legal headache. Thus, it is imperative that counsel properly educate and closely work with their clients, and in-house counsel with their brand marketing teams, on developing a Twitter content clearance risk minimization strategy in order to reduce the risk of a costly lawsuit as well as the negative publicity that can result from a social media strategy gone awry.