Twitter: How Not to Get Sued, Fired or Both

While Linda debunks rules other than Twitter's standard regulations, you might abide by certain personal guidelines so you don't open yourself to a lawsuit. Additionally, people already have been fired over their Twitter comments. Do you really want to lose everything you own and a job to boot over one 140-character comment? In this article, Linda shows you how you can possibly avoid those problems.

Avoiding Lawsuits - Anywhere

I was commenting on an online article this week, debating an issue with a person who was bound and determined to attack my integrity and my knowledge. I kept responding to this person mainly because I felt I needed to defend my integrity and my knowledge. In the long run, this person provided a venue for me to teach others about my point of view, which I validated with factual information.

After a while, my 'opponent' may have felt overwhelmed, as he could not validate his opinions. So, he called in some support – real bulldogs who began to make personal attacks against me. At that point, I dropped out of the conversation. I recognized my boundaries and I wanted to keep my integrity intact. If I used a pseudonym, I may have stretched those boundaries a bit, but I was using my real name and I did not want to have my anger recorded for the life of the Web.

Additionally, the original debater began to make noises that I was attacking his credibility. As soon as I read that post, I was out of there. I knew that I had made a concentrated effort to avoid making this debate personal. But, anyone with an attorney seems to be able to create a lawsuit these days and, frankly, I don't have the time, energy or money for that sort of debacle.

Here are a few guidelines to help avoid lawsuits (Although, in some cases, you may not be able to avoid an idiot with a greedy attorney – and, no, I'm not saying that all attorneys are greedy. I can count on a few awesome and talented attorneys as my friends. Remember that.):

1. Incorporate your business: Or, use some other business procedure to separate your business from you personally. This way, if someone sues, they can't take your house or car (unless they belong to your business, but check with an attorney).

2. Try to avoid personal attacks: If you must attack someone personally, do it out of the public eye. Or, seek help. If someone attacks you, move out of the way or seek help.

3. Try to avoid passing judgement: If you call someone stupid, then you may become the idiot.

4. Try to avoid dealing with angry, unstable and idiotic people in public: In fact, try to avoid this type of contact at all cost (although this practice may seem judgemental, in most cases it is just good common sense).

Finally, don't consider pressing a lawsuit unless 1) you can afford it, and; 2) you can prove beyond all reasonable doubt that you have a case. For instance, in the Tony La Russa case, you may have learned that his lawsuit against Twitter was tossed out of court because it had no legs. Additionally, "Regardless of where the finger's pointed, the truth in all these cases is that the lawsuit ends up causing far more reputation damage than the original review, feedback, or tweets ever could have."