Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Linkedin, etc.: we love them and we love to hate them. There’s that fine line between wanting to know how your friends are doing and not wanting to know how much they enjoyed Taco Bell at 3 a.m.. Which means most of us have accounts on more than one of the above and share some not-so-flattering information about ourselves with the world- whether we realize it or not. It may seem harmless now, but those posts could come back to haunt you. All it takes is one glance at abovethelaw.com to realize just how common social media snafus are for budding attorneys.
We’ve all heard that employers will check your Facebook before hiring and they are most likely checking all those other accounts too, but that is only one side of the social media problem. In 2012, the American Bar Association reported that 88% of law firms were on Linkedin and 55% had a Facebook presence.* This means that clients and co-workers get thrown into the mix and the results can be disastrous. What if a client writes a bad review? Or a co-worker vents about their day with a bit too much detail?
Image via flickr.com
What if you're Facebook friends with a judge or a juror? Based on a recent case, it appears the answer for attorneys practicing in Florida is no, you can’t be friends.* The ABA rules are slowly catching up to address the perils of our social media culture, but until specific rules exist -it’s best to err on the side of extreme caution.
For additional information checkout the Top 5 Social Media Ethics Concerns for Lawyers on lawyerist.com.
