Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Twitter lawsuit - really?
I expect by now you've all heard of the lawsuit wrangling surrounding twitter, Horizon Realty, and an apartment tenant. If not, here is one source for some details. I like it as a teachable moment and good fodder for discussion of where is the line between expressing one's opinion and slander.
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I'm not sure I have made up my mind on this lawsuit. I think it is very easy to jump on the "Down with the man!" bandwagon, especially when the Horizon representative made a careless comment about our overly litigious society. (And I agree that we have become a 'sue first, ask questions later' type of society.)
ReplyDeleteAlthough the tweet was not quoted here in the article, the woman made a false, very public, and potentially damaging claim that her apartment had mold in it. I don't know much about the real estate industry, but I'm pretty sure that making an announcement that one's properties have dangerous mold in them is a business-killer. That is not a comment to be thrown around lightly. Perception is reality. And now this company may always be known as the ones with the "moldy apartments". I don't know about you, but I would never sign a lease there.
I initially saw the news item on television. There, they made the point that the tweet-posting woman had only 17 followers. Now, to what extent that particular tweet would have gotten a wider audience is unknown. Clearly now there is a large, large audience.
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