Local Twitter Suit Could Shape Social Media

Lots of folks use social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, to tell friends about good work their employer is doing.

It's a nice way to promote your employer, and it might even earn the company some extra cash.

Lots of employers are encouraging the practice, but when you quit the company — and perhaps go to work for a competitor — does your boss hold claim to your social media account?

A case involving a Mount Pleasant-based website and a California tech blogger could answer the question.

PhoneDog, the Mount Pleasant-based site that specializes in mobile phone reviews, is suing a former employee that it alleges is promoting competitors on a Twitter account that rightfully belongs to PhoneDog, according to a statement posted on PhoneDog’s website.

The employee, Noah Kravitz, says the account was always his, and that despite the account’s former user name, Phonedog_Noah, his former employer has no rights to it. He says the suit is retaliation for his claims on 15 percent of PhoneDog’s advertising revenue, according to the New York Times.

“He was promoting the competitors’ content to the Twitter account we clearly had and have rights to,” said PhoneDog CEO Tom Klein in a written statement.  “For several months after Noah’s departure, I tried on many occasions to contact Noah directly in hopes of working out our differences.”

Now the company is suing in U.S. District Court asking for damages of $340,000. That’s equal to $2.50 per month, per Twitter follower for eight months, according to the lawsuit.

If the case continues to trial, media scholars say it will set the precedent for future cases involving social media ownership.