Social Media
Gabriel Colón Román
Prof. T. Shartzer
LEG 100
June 8, 2014

Social Media has grown a lot in the past 10 years, and is easily visible in people’s everyday lives. Not only for meeting new people or make friends, but also, marketing of products has been a huge opportunity to reach customers. In the last 5+ years is being seen that the social media are being used by businesses for marketing and selling their products. The social media is also acting as channels to grow businesses online. Nowadays, business is about marketing and selling products the right way. However, the online marketing has showed several methods of advertise their products to new customers. The popular social media sites like Facebook is an evidence of how this works.
One of the best things to do while marketing online through social media like Facebook or others popular websites, is to remain legally wise. It can be said that in the last 10+ years, the social media has been one of the most common way to take over the world. One of the most important benefits that the social media can provide to a business is the ability to monitor the public perception of its brand, and of course there is going to be some risks.
The legally astute managers can identify opportunities to use the law for maximizing the value created. The managers, often anticipate regulations and makes it into opportunities for value creation by being proactive. But on the other side, the managers who does not posses legal astuteness won’t be able to use law for strategy and planning and won’t be able to derive a competitive advantage. The four components of legally astute social media marketing manager are as follows: 1. A set of value laden attitudes 2. A proactive approach 3. The ability to exercise informed judgment 4. Context specific knowledge of the relevant law and the appropriate application of legal tools. 1. A set of value-laden attitudes: Legally astute managers understand the importance of law well for the firm’s success. They also understand the importance of its integration into strategy and planning. They formulate strategies while keeping the importance of law in mind such that competitive advantage can be gained from it. They also provide ongoing information so that their lawyers can actively be a part of the strategy formulation and planning. 2. Proactive approach: Legal issues or considerations should not be considered as an afterthought or just as an add-on to the firm’s strategy. Instead what legally astute managers do is to include the legal opportunities in their strategy at every stage in both its formulation and implementation. They remain proactive and introduce legal counsel at the early stage of decision-making. 3. Ability to exercise informed judgment: Legally astute managers understand that it is the general manager’s task to decide which allocation of resources is most sensible for the business and not the lawyer’s. They have the ability to exercise informed judgment while managing the legal issues and constraints related to the business. After all, until the counsel has advised that a particular course of action can be illegal, it is the management’s job to decide that which risk is worth taking and which opportunity should be exploited. 4. Context specific knowledge: A legally astute manager has the appropriate degree of understanding as to how important a role law plays in the business. It is generally not obvious to the managers that to which extent the risks or rewards related to the business are affected by the law. In such instances it is essential to understand how a context specific knowledge of the law can be helpful at managing and shaping the legal structure of their business.
At the moment to disputes in case of consumers who make purchase from businesses that provide links in social media, the online alternative dispute resolution methods are better. Mainly following dispute resolution methods are used in these cases: a. Mediation: In mediation a third party called the mediator helps business and the consumer find a resolution to the problem by facilitating dialogue. Other similar approaches are assisted negotiation and conciliation. b. Arbitration: In arbitration, a third party called the arbitrator collects the necessary information from both the consumer and the business and makes a decision on its basis. Mostly, the decision of the arbitrator is considered to be binding. c. Automated negotiation: It is a computerized process, which is generally used for settling disputes over monetary amounts.

The consumer transactions on social media can occur across state boundaries. The federal government regulates these transactions, and effectively minimize chances of dispute through taking some steps. Plus, work with both business and consumer representatives in this direction towards the promotion of transparent policies and procedures. It is especially important in the case of cross border transactions.
The government should collaborate with both businesses and consumers to include the development and promotion of transparent cross border consumer protection programs. Another important step in this direction is to review consumer protection laws in collaboration with business and consumer representatives for making them applicable to e-commerce.
A highly factor to consider is including the governments and working in collaboration with them for combating cross-border fraudulent commercial conduct. Also, international cooperation is very important in this regard for developing agreements related to Alternative Dispute Resolution regarding consumer complaints and disputes.
In conclusion, from the three branches of the government, the executive can be most effective at regulating the consumer transactions through social media. These transactions form a part of e-commerce, which can be regulated by the Department of Commerce under the executive branch.

References

1. Bagley, C. E. (n.d.). “Winning Legally: The Value of Legal Astuteness”. In Academy of
Management Review. Retrieved Jun 4, 2014, from http://mba.yale.ed/faculty/bagley_winningLegally_1_7_07.pdf

2. Berle, Adolf (2009). Modern Corporation, Private Property, and Social Media.
Publisher, Engache Inc. pp.342-379 (2009)

3. Bagley, C; Savege, D.W. Manager and the Legal Environment 6th ed. Publisher, South-
Western Cengage Learning (2010)

4. Alternative Dispute Resolution (n.d.). In econsumer.gov. Retrieved Jun 7, 2014.