Ownership of Twitter accounts should be carefully defined before business tweets. Image: Flickr / quinnanya / CC-BY-ND

About a month ago, we discussed the legal ramifications of social media identity as an individual brand.The legal questions are now up for review by the courts in the case of PhoneDog v. Noah Kravitz.

The case of PhoneDog

In October of 2010, writer and contributor Noah Kravitz left his long-term gig at PhoneDog. @PhoneDog_Noah, the Twitter handle Kravitz posted under while working for PhoneDog, garnered more than 17,000 followers. When leaving PhoneDog, Kravitz announced the change and switched his Twitter handle over to @noahkravitz. Now, more than a year later, PhoneDog is suing Kravitz; PhoneDog claims that the Twitter account amounts to a customer list, and Kravitz owes them $2.50 per follower per month. The case will be moving forward into court.

Question of social media ownership

The central question this lawsuit is trying to answer is how the ownership of social media accounts should be decided. The cleanest way for both businesses and employees to handle the question is to maintain two separate accounts. Official business accounts should be marked as such and managed in a professional manner. Personal social media accounts should clearly state that they are not associated with any official business. This question, however, gets muddled when an employer asks an employee to use a personally branded account for the benefit of the company.

Have an agreement

The biggest problem for employers, employees and businesses is that even when the PhoneDog case is decided, ownership of social media accounts will be in a legal gray area. Before an employer or small business requires the use of social media account, a contract that outlines rights and responsibilities should be written up and signed. Any employees who manage social media accounts for their business should clearly outline which accounts are personal and which are official business accounts. Above all else, always get any agreements you make in writing.

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