The question asked in the Knowledge@Wharton article was simple enough – Whom Do Social Media Followers Belong to — You, or Your Business? The author presented a case where a lawsuit was brought against a former editor for allegedly taking the company’s Twitter followers with him after he left the organization.

The suit further brought to light the issues of ownership of social media accounts themselves and their content. Does the employee own the account and content because they created it, or is it the property of the organization, because it was communicated while under the company’s domain.

Unfortunately, the dispute was settled out of court, so there is still no legal precedent. The advice offered to organizations by Janice Bellace, legal studies and business ethics professor at Wharton, was to have a written social media policy. In that way the organization can better ensure when and how employees engage in social media; they can also spell out the levels of engagement and ownership of the content.

For individuals, these policies could have significant implications. If someone is creating meaningful, compelling content, and posting that on a number of social media platforms, are they at risk of losing their original, professionally-defining work when they leave an organization; or will they be faced with the prospect of having to steal their own content…

 

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