Twitter Account Ownership, A Legal Overview of Who Owns Your Twitter Account

Twitter is all the rage now. You can’t go anywhere without hearing about the microblogging service that’s growing like a weed. You hear about on the news, at work, your kids are talking about, and even Oprah has taken the plunge and started an account, which now has over 1.2 million followers by the way (although don’t get me started on how she’s using it).

I ended up reading an article on BusinessWeek.com last week that presented the results of a survey of c-level executives regarding employees and social networks. According to the survey from Deloitte, 60% of c-level executives interviewed believe they have a right to know how their employees represent themselves and their companies on social networking sites. However, 53% of employees surveyed believe their activities on social networking sites should be of no concern to employers. This is a new frontier for both executives and employees and you can tell this subject hits a nerve for both groups. So, as I’ve been helping companies develop social media strategies that involve Twitter, there’s one question that keeps coming up. “Who own the Twitter account?” That question typically comes from the executives I’m helping… as employees focus on other topics like how to set up a Twitter account, how to build followers, what to tweet, and Twitter etiquette. Executives know all too well that Twitter account ownership could be a messy situation (legally).

Now, I have my opinions about who owns your Twitter account, but I also wanted to understand the legal implications of various Twitter scenarios. That’s when I called Mike Pisauro, from Frascella and Pisauro. Mike heavily focuses on business law in Princeton, NJ. I mapped out five scenarios and asked Mike to analyze each one from a legal perspective. Walking through this exercise ended up yielding my latest blog post on Search Engine Journal, titled Lawyers, Guns, and Twitter – Who Owns Your Twitter Account. Mike provided some great insight, but to be honest, I wasn't thrilled with some of his responses! :)

In order to read my analysis of each scenario and then Mike’s legal analysis, you’ll have to visit my post on SEJ! Be sure to read the comments, and feel free to add your own. This is such a new subject, that there’s no clear answer at this point. We’re all just trying to make sense of it.

GG

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