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Twitter Account Lawsuit Could Change Corporate Social Media Strategy for PR and Marketing
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 | 12:56 PM by Author: Ben Toth
When Noah Kravitz left PhoneDog, a US-based mobile news website, he took his 17K follower Twitter account with him – changing his user name from @Phonedog_Noah to @noahkravitz.
The company took objection and fought back by trying to take back control of the account. Now, the company is seeking damages of $2.50 per user, per month; a total of $340,000.Twitter accounts often blur the line between personal and professional, and if this case reaches a decision in court it will be among the first to address who owns Twitter accounts and what they are worth.
"The costs and resources invested by PhoneDog Media into growing its followers, fans and general brand awareness through social media are substantial and are considered property of PhoneDog Media LLC," the company said. "We intend to aggressively protect our customer lists and confidential information, intellectual property, trademark and brands."
This claim seems lofty, it will certainly be a legal struggle to define a list of followers who are publicly available with one mouseclick as either customers or confidential information, but no one is denying that PhoneDog invested time and money growing this channel for marketing and communications purposes.
This is a great case to follow if you are in charge of developing your corporate social media policy. It’s also a good reminder to always clearly define in writing beforehand who owns social media accounts used to promote your business unless you want a judge to do it for you.
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