Did you know that there are three ways that others can drag your company's reputation through the mud? When that happens, you cannot simply throw money at the problem, nor ignore it and hope it goes away. There is, however, one thing you can do to combat those who insist on thrashing your company's reputation online.
Posts filed under Internet / Social Media
How To Avoid Being Sued By The Govt. After You've Been Hacked
As business owners, we live in fear of our customer database being hacked. In a situation where their most private information is exposed, we can expect lawsuits from our clients. But the government? Why would they be suing us, the victim, after we’ve been hacked? Well, they recently got this right from a federal court. Find out how to avoid of this pitfall.
How To Beat Bad Reviews On Yelp (Infographic)
Recently, I wrote two blog posts about the actions some business people were taking to shield themselves from negative reviews from their customers. One tactic was to have customers sign contracts that allowed the business to penalize anyone that left a negative review on social media. The other approach was to legally try to discredit Yelp. Though neither of these ploys has been particularly effective, I can understand why businesses might be tempted to take action to protect themselves.
Microsoft Office Online or Google Docs...Which Is Best For You Legally?
These days we essentially have a choice between Microsoft Office and Google Docs when it comes to meeting our back office needs. Though each has its benefits (according to Sarah Austin, Google is better for collaboration while Microsoft is better for those who use spreadsheets on a regular basis), legally they are quite different.
THIS Law May Be Helping The Hackers Invade Your Privacy
So let me start by saying that I am most definitely not a tech savvy person. However, but according to Kim Lachance Shandrow, it seems that the iCloud’s “Find My Phone” feature aka the Kill Switch, was the weak link that hackers were able to exploit. This will not be a surprise to anyone who follows this blog: our June 20th post clearly points out that
4 Legal Lessons From The Facebook Psych Experiment
When we sign up to use social media, we want to get access to the product they are offering so we couldn’t care less about the provisions they have in their Terms and Agreements. Now I know many of you are upset about the experiment Facebook’s psychological experiment “to learn about the way positive and negative effect travels through social networks”. However, as Gene Marks pointed out, their actions were completely legal… Facebook “can pretty much use your information however they'd like, even [to] conduct scientific studies with it.” We gave them this right when we hastily clicked “I agree” at the bottom of their Terms and Agreements (without even sparing a glance for the provision about privacy).
Don't Get Sued Because Of Employee's Postings On Social Media
In a recent blog post, showed you how employees were agents of their employers: this means employers are legally responsible for all of the employees’ actions on the job. So, if you use your employees as brand advocates, i.e. you have them use social media on your company's behalf, then you might find yourself legally responsible for some of their posts. continue reading...
Are Fast & Hyperspeed Internet Options Our Future?
Before I became a business owner, I took no interest in "net neutrality". That is because it is a bit dry and many of us just can’t see how this will affect us in our personal lives. Even as a small business owner, I knew intellectually that this will affect the ability of ALL of our businesses to thrive and grow, but somehow it still had not aroused my passions. That is, until I say John Oliver’s clip on net neutrality. continue reading...
Don’t Get Fined For Positive Reviews On Social Media
Recently, I was in a beauty supply store when I saw the most perfect shade of lip stain. Ladies, understand how much of a find this was. Instead of going to the cash register, without even thinking about it, I pulled out my smartphone to find out what the reviews were on Amazon. That right there shows the importance of user reviews for any business. continue reading...
Snapchat For Privacy - Truth or Fiction?
How many of you use Snapchat because you want to at least maintain some level of privacy while taking advantage of the benefits of social media? Well, sorry to tell you that this supposed “privacy” does not really exist. continue reading...
Will You Join The Fight To Protect Equality On The Internet?
The Federal Communications Commission has recently proposed rules that would allow the giant corporations and those with money to pay the internet service providers (ISPs) for faster broadband access to the web. From a business perspective, this will give rich established corporations a competitive advantage because, instead of both of you having equal access to customers, they will now be able to reach them before you can. continue reading...
Internet Toll Fee For Access To Your Customers? This May Be The Future...
Many of you have been complaining about Facebook limiting access to your followers’ newsfeeds unless you paid for advertising. Well, as Dan Shewan explains, if the current threats to net neutrality succeed, you will find yourself in a similar situation with your internet service providers (ISPs): either pay more or no one will be able to access your website. continue reading...
Are Social Media Contests To Promote Your Business Legal?
You have a Pinterest contest to promote your business. You ask the contestants to compete to put together the most creative boards based on a theme you provide. To qualify for the $1,000 prize however, the contestants have to pin at least 5 pictures of your products onto their boards. Is this contest legal or not? continue reading...
How Important Is Privacy To You? If You Have a Hotmail, Gmail Or Yahoo E-mail You NEED To Read This…
So how many of you have a Hotmail (including msn & outlook), gmail, yahoo and other such types of free email accounts? Come on raise your hand! You know you have one. Well, did you know that that under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act companies like Microsoft, Google and Yahoo can legally read and disclose your emails if they claim they are acting to protect their rights and / or property? As Will Yakowicz discusses, Microsoft recently exercised this right by searching the Hotmail accounts and instant messages of an ex-employee who they suspected of stealing and selling their trade secrets. Though Microsoft’s actions were legal, following the public backlash, they announced that they will seek a court order before taking similar actions in the future. continue reading...
Investigation of Employee Mobile Device Apps
Just about every employee has a smartphone these days? How do you legally protect your company's trade secrets while simultaneously respect the employee's right to privacy? Read this article to find out the answer...
What to Do When Customers Trash Your Brand Online | Entrepreneur.com
By allowing you to engage with your customers and market your product for minimal cost,Social media is a mostly a blessing for small business owners. But, let's face it, it can also be a curse. Regardless of how hard we try, there will be times when we receive negative comments on our facebook, googlee+ or twitter pages. So, what do you do when someone trashes your brand online? This piece gives you some tips o how to minimize the damage.
