This slideshow was presented at a seminar on June 21, 2011 at Fasken Martineau's Vancouver office highlighting best practices as well as potential legal pitfalls for public companies using social media for disclosure.
3. How you can digitally take part today:
• Share the information you heard here today on Twitter using
the hashtag:
#FaskenSM4Pubcos
• Ask questions of the panellists using the hashtag and an
@reply to:
@CarolineClapham
4. Current Social Media Landscape (Canada)
140
120
Either Twitter or
100 Facebook
Both Twitter and
80 Facebook
60 Twitter Only
40 Facebook Only
20
0
5. Current Social Media Landscape (Canada)
Natural Resources
Technology
Consumer Goods
Airline
Banks
6. Current Social Media Landscape (Canada)
• Average # of Followers = 1,375
• Highest # of Followers = Lululemon
(84k) and Westjet (75k)
• Highest # of Fans = RIM (>7M) and Tim
Hortons (1.6M)
7. NovaGold – a social media leader
Goal: expanding stakeholder reach
11. Material Fact or Material Change?
• Kerr v. Danier Leather Inc. (Supreme Court
Of Canada)
• AiT Advanced Information Technologies
Corporation, Bernard Jude Ashe And
Deborah Weinstein (Ontario Securities
Commission)
Social media implication: material changes
must be generally disclosed
12. Misrepresentations
• Untrue statement
• Half-true Statement – ie. Not enough info
• Unintentional omission to disclose
Social media implication: THERE ARE NO
TAKE-BACKS – every tweet/post is
permanent
13. Third party information
• Endorsements
• Sharing news
• Promotional content
• Entanglement
• Analyst coverage
Social media implication: be careful with
third party disclosure and information
14. Disclaimers and Mandated Disclosure
• Safe harbour statements - when, where
and how
• Technical information
Social media implication: include links to
meet disclosure requirements
15. Dissemination in the United States
• Is your company listed in the US?
• What constitutes dissemination?
• When is dissemination acceptable?
Social media implication: issuers that are not
listed in the United States need to be
attuned to these issues – consult legal
before you post/tweet!