Boughton Law Corporation: Facebook, Social Media and Online Reputation Management

VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - May 24, 2012) - The big social media issue of the day isn't Facebook's $104 billion IPO, or whether Ashton Kutcher or Lady Gaga are still tweeting. It's the fact that many users of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media platforms - particularly teens and twenty-somethings - still don't appreciate that the comments, photos and videos they post on social media sites can be publicly accessible, profoundly inappropriate, legally defamatory and career-limiting. Everything that goes online stays online, leaving digital tattoos that anyone from teachers to scholarship committees to future employers might find, and, more importantly, might find objectionable.

On Thursday, May 31, 2012, Scholar in Residence Tony Wilson discusses the importance of online reputation management in a lecture titled Social Media: How to Protect Yourself from Yourself. This lecture considers how the social media landscape has revolutionized how we communicate and interrelate with one another, and how important it is to understand the effects of our digital contributions and take ownership of what we say and do online.

"From the 15-year-old's perspective, it might be a badge of honour to post photos of wayward drunken exploits on Facebook," says Wilson, "thinking that because their parents aren't 'friends', Mom and Dad won't see them. But when a teen has 750 Facebook friends, it's easy for them to lose control of where those posts travel and who will eventually see them."

Tony Wilson's presentation discusses how important it is for students and parents alike to understand the importance of protecting their online reputation, how easily a reputation can be damaged and how long that damage can last.

"I can only echo what most of the deans of Canada's law schools tell their new students each year: clean up your Facebook pages because your prospective employers will be looking for you. I can tell you first-hand that all employers do," says Wilson. "We have to."

Tony Wilson's presentation Social Media: How to Protect Yourself from Yourself will be held on May 31, 2012 at 7pm at the Copeland Lecture Theatre at St. Michaels University School. Admission is free, but registration is advised. Click here to register for this event.

Tony Wilson (SMUS 74) regularly practices law in the areas of franchising, licensing and IP law at Boughton Law Corporation in Vancouver and is ranked as a leading Canadian Franchise lawyer by LEXPERT and Who'sWho Legal. He is the author of Manage Your Online Reputation, a book written to guide individuals and businesses on how to monitor and protect their personal and corporate reputations on social media. He is a regular business columnist for the Globe and Mail and Lawyers Weekly, Bartalk and Canadian Lawyer magazines.

He is an Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University and a Bencher of the Law Society of British Columbia.

St. Michaels University School is a co-educational, independent day and boarding school situated in Victoria, British Columbia. With a population of 930 students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 representing 20 countries and varied economic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, SMUS grads are exceptionally prepared to find their place as engaged citizens of the world.

Boughton Law Corporation is a full service Vancouver law firm located in Vancouver. Carrying on business as Boughton, our predecessor law partnership was founded in 1949. We strive to deliver the highest quality legal work and service to our clients; to be accessible, efficient and responsive; to find practical and effective solutions; to communicate clearly; and to conduct ourselves with honesty and integrity. Boughton is an independently owned Vancouver law firm, but is part of an international network of law firms called MERITAS.