But the time has come to set those pre-judgments aside, and offer a legal a seat at the social head table. As advocacy groups place increasing emphasis on social media policies and government rules and regulations are in flux, business organizations face significant risks if their legal team is not involved in social business initiatives.
Successful strategic social media programs depend on legal involvement from counsel who understand the medium, and who can add value in two key areas. They should be well-versed in social media benefits, opportunities, rules and tools to help the company succeed while keeping the firm from running afoul of both the written and still-emerging rules and regulations governing social media activities.
Legal also needs to be involved in the social media business planning cycle from the beginning as a trusted advisor. In too many cases, the legal team get involved only after the marketing campaigns or online community efforts are well underway -- and that's often too late. This is when they have to slow the process and perform due diligence on policies and planning oversight to ensure compliance. Yet, if they had been brought in earlier they could have added speed to market. CMOs should reach out and offer legal a seat earlier in order to go faster in the long run.
If you are thinking about risks, the fact that these conversations are taking place without governance policies in place creates a host of potential liabilities for the organization. Most of them could be prevented with a bit of proper planning and strategic guidance ahead of time. For example, Intellectual Property (IP) risk is a fundamental issue with social business because the boundaries and regulations regarding social media and intellectual property are not well-understood and, in some cases, are still being formulated.
Moreover, the culture evolution of the Web means some social media assets may not be considered intellectual property even if they are covered by legal precedents. For example, most of us understand the rules that govern plagiarism, trademarks and copyright online, but photos and graphics are often freely "borrowed" without attribution. This can result in an organizational liability, which requires a cultural change through education as well as clearly-defined policies. Consider these issues:
Thank you for reading Building Online Communities for Business by Leader Networks. We are a research and strategy consulting company that helps organizations succeed in social business and B2B online community building. Visit us on the web at http://www.leadernetworks.com. Connect with us on Twitter http://twitter.com/vdimauro Call us at 617 484 0778
