“To Tweet or Not to Tweet: Social Media in Associations” – Attorney David Savitt weighs the pros and cons of using social media for condominium, townhome, and homeowner association communication, and addresses the importance of an association communication policy. (13 mins.)
The KSN Podcast examines various aspects of association law, landlord/tenant issues, property tax appeals, and more. In each episode, KSN attorneys share their experience and knowledge as they discuss legal updates, best practices, industry trends, and more. KSN Podcast episodes are available at www.ksnlaw.com/podcast.
Since 1983, KSN has been a legal resource for condominium, homeowner, and townhome associations. Additionally, we represent clients in real estate transactions, collections, landlord/tenant issues, and property tax appeals. We represent thousands of clients and community associations throughout the US with offices in several states including Florida, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
For more info about our law firm and legal services, please visit www.ksnlaw.com
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Since 1983, KSN has been a legal resource for condominium, homeowner, and townhome associations. Additionally, we represent clients in real estate transactions, collections, landlord/tenant issues, and property tax appeals. We represent thousands of clients and community associations throughout the US with offices in several states including Florida, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
For more info about our law firm and legal services, please visit www.ksnlaw.com.
Episode Transcription
Bernie: You’re listening to the KSN podcast and today we’re talking about social media in associations. Welcome to the KSN podcast where you’ll hear from Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit attorneys as they share their experience and insight on legal issues surrounding community associations, collections, property tax appeals and landlord tenant law. I’m Bernie and today we’re joined by KSN attorney David Savitt. David practices condominium, townhome, and homeowner association law. David, welcome to the podcast.
David: Thanks Bernie. It’s great to be here with you today.
Bernie: So our topic today is social media. Something that if you live in a condo townhome or homeowner association seems pretty simple but can be very complicated to address.
David: Well, exactly Bernie. We’ve seen with our clients that boards are always looking for a way to address association matters with homeowners in an expeditious and cost-effective manner and so Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, those have been kind of the answer for the board and how to do that in today’s modern world. So with technology as really in anything, there are some pros and there are some cons that boards need to be aware of when they do that.
Bernie: And we’re going to jump right in and talk about those pros and cons in social media. So let’s start off with the pros. So there are a few things that you want to mention specifically regarding pros with using social media communication.
David: The number one pro and I think it’s probably the most self-explanatory is information exchange. There’s nothing like social media. It allows you to exchange information instantaneously with a large number of people. It’s also cost-effective, it’s essentially free and boards don’t have any upfront costs to use it. In addition, social media posts can be deleted if there’s inaccurate information or something that board members don’t want communicated to the homeowners.
Bernie: In comparison to a printed newsletter, like let’s say for example, where they have to reprint it because of a mistake.
David: Correct. Right. In addition, social media allows the boards to reach a large number of individuals. When you think about young people and all the young people that are buying homes today, social media is really their number one source of news and information. So using social media probably allows board members to reach a larger number of audience than they would via snail mail.
Bernie: All right. So, so far we’ve got three pros, information exchange, cost savings, participation and then the fourth one is confidence.
David: Right. So, in terms of confidence, board members can use social media as a way to gauge instantaneous owner feedback in terms of how their policies and procedures are being used.
Bernie: And since association leadership, it’s a volunteer position, it’s a thankless responsibility so having that information availability can help generate, like you mentioned, confidence in the board and what they’re doing. All right. So now that we talked about the four pros, now let’s talk about the cons in using social media in associations and there are a few.
David: The first one is kind of the double-edged sword of that comment section is that comments section can take something that maybe it was an original post just to be informational and can be hijacked into something that allows homeowners to voice their opinions in a negative way and that can create a conversation online separately from a noticed meeting, which can be a problem under the Illinois law.
Bernie: And that’s where maybe an association member may use social media to, they can continue a dispute, assign blame, maybe force a dialogue with fellow owners on the board.
David: Right. And that kind of leads me into my second point here with unintended consequences, where you might see a substantive discussion online that can then be discoverable in litigation. So that could be an issue as well.
Bernie: And this is where you’re getting beyond like false offensive, inappropriate, off-topic comments. I mean, they can all be terrible but when you start talking about liability, like you mentioned, that’s where litigation comes in.
David: Exactly. These are things that you probably would rather have dealt with face to face and as the saying goes, anything you put online is there for forever.
Bernie: So let’s get into the third con, lack of record keeping.
David: So unlike mail, where you get returned receipts and things of that nature. There’s a way of confirming that a piece of mail has been received. Social media is a little bit different. There really is no good way of ensuring that somebody has actually read a social media post and because of that boards can’t really rely on a simple social media post to ensure that information has been transmitted in a legal way to homeowners. That’s why it’s not a proper way of running association business, including levying fines, establishing quorum, sharing community association announcements, things of that nature.
Bernie: And that brings us into the fourth con, inconsistency.
David: What may happen here is that you may see boards start a profile and use it inconsistently. So if a board is going to use a profile we want to ensure that it actually does reflect that the board has put in a good amount of time in terms of crafting that page. We don’t want situations where the board looks like they don’t care for instance, infrequent and out of date postings communicate to your association that it either does not care or does not have time to maintain its social media page.
Bernie: And then speaking of updating profiles, this is where, you know, in the world of social media you can also have copycat profiles, copycat accounts.
David: Right. I mean, that’s something that’s been in the news all the time where you see individuals create pages that use the name and design similar to a legitimate page and they use that to spread inaccurate or fake news. In addition, there’s also legal concerns with using social media. Like I mentioned earlier, any information that’s posted online is generally discoverable when it comes to litigation. So boards need to be very careful about the information that they’re posting online and the real concern is it’s so easy to post information online that board members may not think clearly about the information that they’re deciding to post online. Some situations that you may see are libelous statements, hate speech, copyright infringement. Those could all be certainly problematic.
Bernie: And just to summarize the cons, because again, there were a few you can have hijacks in the comment section, unintended consequences, lack of record keeping, inconsistency, copycats and legal concerns, all cons in social media that can at least be addressed if you have a social media policy in place. And David and I are going to take a quick break but when we get back we’re going to get right into that very topic, we’ll get into the legal considerations an association should keep in mind regarding a social media policy.
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Bernie: And we’re back and I’m here with attorney David Savitt and we’re talking about social media in associations. All right, David so we left off talking about litigation and how online communication can be used in court. What recommendations do you have from a legal perspective to help associations use social media?
David: Well, associations really need to get a policy in place. And as social media becomes a bigger part of our lives and becomes more and more ingrained it’s important to get that policy in place now so that board members are familiar with it as social media moves forward.
Bernie: So you want to be proactive?
David: Correct. You absolutely want to be proactive. In terms of what that policy should cover, policy needs to cover essentially what platform is going to be used.
Bernie: And that’s where an association might look at what they actually need to actually manage the association. So if Facebook makes sense for them, they can use that. If Twitter makes sense for them, they can use that platform. But you’re saying overall, just have a policy for that platform.
David: Exactly. Figure out what platform works best for you. What platform maybe most of your homeowners use and use that one. Again, the goal is to reach as many people as possible. Board should also specify in that policy who’s going to have access to the social media account. We mentioned earlier, things like copycats and disseminating information that wasn’t intended to be put in there. So the board should really think hard about who the responsible person is that’s going to be the one posting content on the board social media page.
Bernie: And that’s where you start getting into issues about having closed or private pages. But again, something that you can at least mitigate, if you have a person who’s designated to have access to the association’s social media channels.
David: Exactly. You want to make sure the person driving the car so to speak is responsible.
Bernie: And that brings us to different roles.
David: Right. So the board should probably designate someone to be an administrator of the page, a content creator and an editor, and ensure that there’s a division of responsibility in order to make sure that the best information possible is being posted on the page to the public.
Bernie: And then speaking of content creators, you have to talk about permissible content that you’re actually going to post.
David: Right. And I think the best way to communicate this is via an example. So in terms of communicating informational messages, like dates of properly notice meeting, event headlines are examples of acceptable content, but where you start getting into substantive discussions about the issues that will be discussed at a properly noticed meeting, you’ve crossed the line into something that’s probably less permissible under the law.
Bernie: So it’d be impermissible. You have prohibited.
David: Correct. So in terms of prohibited content, I would say things like the confidential association business, vendor contracts and negotiations, personal or privileged information such as social security numbers, dates of birth, et cetera, neighborhood gossip, opinions, criticism, political bias, those are all examples of things that go beyond just communicating important information to the residents. So you really want to make sure that you think about what you’re posting before you go ahead and do that.
Bernie: To that point, courts generally find that information that’s posted on an online forum can be utilized in litigation. Board members should expect that anything shared on social media can be available in the event an owner initiates legal action against an association. So what would you recommend board members or property managers do who are looking for more guidance on how to handle social media management?
David: Well, I think it’s clear that the purpose of our discussion today is to say that social media is a great tool, but what you need to do and what boards need to do is get that policy in place as soon as possible to get out in front of this. So the association should proactively work with their legal counsel to draft a social media policy that provides guidance and protects the board from significant legal consequences including libel, slander, privacy, and harassment that we mentioned earlier. And any of these can lead to issues that have repercussions in terms of liability and litigation. So an attorney can work with your association, work with you to determine how you plan to use social media and ensure that you’re using social media in a way that’s within the bounds of the law.
Bernie: That was KSN attorney David Savitt. He practices condominium, townhome and homeowner association law in the city of Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit is an experienced legal resource, ready to provide you with quality advice and exceptional service. We look forward to demonstrating how we have earned the trust of thousands of clients over the past 35 years. If you’d like to reach David or any of KSN experienced attorneys, please call (855) 537-0500. You can also visit ksnlaw.com and complete the contact form and send us a message. Thanks for listening. The music for this show is brought to you by freepodcastthemes.com. Please note that the material contained on the KSN podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. No attorney client relationship is established by your review or receipt of the information contained on the KSN podcast. You should not act on the information discussed on the KSN podcast without first obtaining legal advice from an attorney duly licensed to practice law in your state. While Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit has made every effort to include up-to-date information on the KSN podcast the law can change quickly. Accordingly, please understand that information discussed on the podcast may not yet reflect the most recent legal developments. Material is not guaranteed to be correct, complete or up-to-date. Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit reserves the right to revise or update the information and statements of law discussed on the podcast at any time without notice and disclaims any liability for your use of information or statements of law discussed on the podcast or the performance of the podcast generally. KSN podcast may be considered advertising in some jurisdictions under applicable laws and or ethical rules and regulations.
Please note the material contained on the KSN Podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is established by your review or receipt of the information contained on the KSN Podcast. You should not act on the information discussed on the KSN Podcast without first obtaining legal advice from an attorney duly licensed to practice law in your State. While KSN has made every effort to include up-to-date information on The KSN podcast, the law can change quickly. Accordingly, please understand that information discussed on the podcast may not yet reflect the most recent legal developments. Material is not guaranteed to be correct, complete, or up to date. KSN reserves the right to revise or update the information and statements of law discussed on the podcast at any time, without notice, and disclaims any liability for your use of information or statements of law discussed on the podcast, or the performance of the podcast generally. The KSN Podcast may be considered advertising in some jurisdictions under applicable law/s and/or ethical rules/regulations. © 2020 Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit, A Professional Corporation.