They Came, They Saw, They Tweeted: Hinda’s Official Social Media Week Wrap-Up - Part I

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They say the best way to learn about something is to immerse yourself in it, and that’s exactly what over 16,000 social media professionals did as they descended upon Chicago the week of September 24. This year’s Social Media Week consisted of about 95 sessions featuring 250 speakers at 40 different venues around the city.

Personally, I represented Hinda at 12, which felt like a pretty full schedule considering the amount of information that was packed into each session, while still managing to pop into the office for a few hours in between.

I won’t get into the gory details of each session here, but I do want to point out a few highlights from what was a terrifically informative, fun and free week of social media madness.

One factor about social media that makes a lot of sense but that many people (including yours truly) probably don’t think about are the legal implications of hosting contests, sweepstakes or other online promotions that involve rules, regulations and privacy concerns.

At “Pinning and Winning: Activating Social Contests,” we heard from Linda Goldstein, Partner and Chair of the Advertising, Marketing and Media Division of Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, who talked about the legal risks involved in hosting online contests, specifically compliance with lottery laws, disclosure of rules and privacy policies and intellectual property liability for content use.

“The FTC says that limited real estate is no excuse for lack of disclosure,” Goldstein said, with regard to specifically Twitter-based promotions and the fact that a tweet is limited to 140 characters. “Rules are your best defense. You don’t need to police each and every entry, but makes sure your rules are prominent and easy to read.”

(Full disclosure: I’ve spent a few years working in the legal field, so perhaps this part of the wrap-up isn’t as interesting to some readers, but it’s important nonetheless!)

Stay tuned for Part II of our Social Media Week wrap-up this Friday!