• Where are the CEOs? According to a new study, fully two-thirds of the CEOs of the Fortune 500 have no personal social media presence at all. And of the ones who do participate in social media, two-thirds use only one of the major networks, usually LinkedIn. Just 42 of the senior executives have Twitter accounts, and many of those are pretty inactive. The same number of the Fortune 500 CEOs use Facebook – still not very many at all. In an age in which virtually every company wants to brand itself on social media, it's a bit surprising that so many of the top people have no personal experience with it.
  • Facebook lawsuit can proceed. A New York state appeals panel has permitted a lawsuit by Facebook against the Manhattan District Attorney's office to proceed. Facebook had sued the D.A.'s office over search warrants issued to 381 users of the network by the prosecutors in a fraud investigation. The appeals panel rejected prosecutors' motion to dismiss Facebook's challenge to the warrants and also gave several technology companies — among them Google, LinkedIn and Twitter — permission to file briefs supporting Facebook's position. A full appellate hearing will occur in December. The closely watched case pits Fourth Amendment protection against prosecutors' need for data stored by social media companies.
  • Hanging on the Vine. Vine, which began as a network in which people could share bare-bones six-second videos, has become an important venue for pop singers, actors and other entertainers who appeal to younger viewers. One observer said Vine has "an intensive burst perfect for the increasingly short attention span of Generation Z." Vine is less than two years old but already seems to have found a niche, as top "Viners" have millions of followers on the site.

Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

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