ONLINE LAW The Social Media Checklist for Companies What Your Clients Should Do, Know and Learn
BY ASHLEY KASARJIAN
PILART © SHU T TERSTOCK.COM
“They have pretty pre-printed
signs on doors of the rooms where they are
telling people [about the layoffs,] unlike the
red sharpie signs from the last round.”
Those were the words of a Yahoo
employee in 2008, on Twitter, describing
her company’s layoffs just moments before
she herself was laid off. 1 As the employee
tweeted her account of the reduction in
force, it caught the attention of the
media—as well as readers from around the
world.
INTERNET
1950s
• In 1951 the Air Force commissioned MIT to design a state-of-the-art, early-warning network to
guard against a Soviet nuclear bomber attack (called Project Lincoln). Project Lincoln would
eventually result in a continent-spanning system of 23 centers that each housed up to 50
human radar operators, plus two redundant real-time computers capable of tracking up to 400
airplanes at once. This Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system would also include
the world’s first long-distance network, which allowed the computers to transfer data among
the 23 centers over telephone lines.
• In 1957, the USSR launches Sputnik ahead of the U.S. space program. In response, DARPA was
created in 1958 by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) as the Advanced Research Projects
Agency (ARPA or DARPA). The political and defense communities recognized the need for a high-level defense organization to formulate and execute R&D projects that would expand the frontiers of technology beyond the immediate and specific requirements of the Military Services and
their laboratories.
MAKSIM KABAKOU © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
Fast forward five
years later. You can guarantee that employees will
share their gripes and
struggles on Twitter,
Facebook, YouTube,
Instagram and any other
site with friends or
strangers who will listen.
What about the company email from the CEO
threatening to fire
