Government Lessons from AMEX V. Vinhnee

"In 2003, California resident Vee Vinhnee filed for bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. He owed American Express more than $40,000 on his credit cards. American Express (Amex) sued Vinhnee to recover the balances owed on the cards. In Vinhnee vs. American Express Travel Related Services Company Inc., Vinhnee won his case without a lawyer and without appearing in court" .

Three smart tips to prevent social media scandal Social media scandal. It’s a dreaded thought for any communications manager. And it seems that more cases of social media missteps are published every week. Most recently, there was a public outcry against the Latah County Sheriff’s Office, which published a flippant Facebook post about a young man, wanted for several crimes, who subsequently committed suicide. It was a sad story which again raised questions about organizations using social media to communicate with the public. Do the benefits outweigh the risks?

Why Your Records Retention Policy Should Include Social Media The social networking explosion of the past few years has taken many organizations somewhat by surprise. As Facebook and Twitter began to grow exponentially, most companies and agencies still looked askance at such platforms, dismissed them as juvenile, and (in some cases) even banned them from the workplace. Until now. When it became apparent that social media was utilized by all ages and demographics, organizations began to see the benefits in connecting socially with their clients, customers, or citizens. Social media has become a platform for customer service, crowd-sourcing, advertising, promoting, and beyond. So it is no surprise that around 60% of companies are using social media in some way. Numerous articles and discussions have centered around best practices for utilizing these tools to gain the greatest market advantage, present the ideal company image, reach the largest audience, and so forth. But many organizations have failed to recognize the legal ramifications of this new communications medium, especially where records retention regulations are concerned. Without a policy for preserving social media activity properly, companies could find themselves out of compliance or unprepared for records requests.