{"id":4764,"date":"2014-08-05T07:00:35","date_gmt":"2014-08-05T15:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/?p=4764"},"modified":"2014-07-01T20:14:18","modified_gmt":"2014-07-02T04:14:18","slug":"social-media-compliance-navigating-the-regulations-of-business-communications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/social-media-compliance-navigating-the-regulations-of-business-communications\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Media Compliance: Navigating the Regulations of Business Communications"},"content":{"rendered":"

In March 2012,Gene Morphis, at the time CFO of the women’s clothing retailer Francesca’s<\/a>, broadcast on his personal Twitter account the tweet: “Board meeting. Good numbers=Happy Board” to his 238 Twitter followers. \u00a0His gaffe was that the tweet was sent out prior to the official release of the earnings numbers. \u00a0This release of insider information caused the stock to jump 15 percent, and ultimately factored into Gene Morphis being fired. \u00a0CIO quotes Amy Freed<\/a>, a New York lawyer specializing in corporate practice that Morphis’ tweets \u00a0“could be considered a selective disclosure” which the SEC does not allow.<\/p>\n

Despite the sticky compliance dangers of social media, the use of it by businesses continues to increase<\/a>. \u00a0A report by Smarsh<\/a> found that 79 percent of Fortune 500 companies use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn when communicating with customers. \u00a0And a report by Ledermark<\/a> found that even in the financial industry that 85 percent of service professionals under 50 use social media. \u00a0Although the financial industry remains cautious. \u00a0Morgan Stanley recently allowed<\/a> 1300 of their financial advisers to use ‘free tweets’ — not pre-approved ones.<\/p>\n

The SEC recently approved guidelines<\/a> for how social media can be used when referring to business operations, especially for ‘character-limited’ media like Twitter where it isn’t easy to accompany any posting with a disclaimer.<\/p>\n

Ryan Holmes<\/a>, CEO of HootSuite, wrote for the Harvard Business Review<\/a> that “The alternative \u2014 banning social communications altogether and hoping for the best \u2014 is hardly an alternative any longer.”<\/p>\n

Holmes quotes Mike Langford,\u00a0social compliance strategist and financial industry veteran, as saying that “restricting communication, access to information and people networks is something I doubt you would champion as a sound business practice for the 21st century. \u00a0You can resist, but your competitors and customers are moving ahead.”<\/p>\n

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In March 2012,Gene Morphis, at the time CFO of the women’s clothing retailer Francesca’s, broadcast on his personal Twitter account the tweet: “Board meeting. Good numbers=Happy Board” to his 238 Twitter followers. \u00a0His gaffe was that the tweet was sent…<\/span><\/p>\n

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