Tag: UK

Lawyers use Facebook to serve court claim

People move, but their Facebook profiles stay the same. So if you are a lawyer that need to serve a court claim to an individual, Facebook may just be a good alternative to sending a letter. A lawyer at the law firm Stephenson Harwood has convinced the High Court in the UK to let him serve a court claim via Facebook to an individual that they could not locate the postal address of.

Jenni Jenkins, an associate at the law firm Memery Crystal, commented:

“The courts recognise the increasing power of social networking sites like Facebook. It’s all very well serving proceedings at a last known residential address, but people move house all the time. Your email or Facebook account moves with you.

“If a claimant can identify the defendant from their photo and establish that the Facebook account is active, this is a perfectly sensible way of serving a claim and giving the defendant an opportunity to respond.”

There are two key elements that make this practice possible. First, that you are able to convince the court that you have found the right Facebook profile and that it is active. Second, that this person lets anyone send him or her messages on Facebook (this is something that you manage in your security settings on Facebook).

Facebook is really becoming the number one means of connecting people with each other.

The Telegraph can see into the future

What type of journalism could be more up to date than live broadcast or real time reporting? The UK paper the Telegraph may have come up with a solution – publishing articles from the future. Today, Feb 5, 2012, the Telegraph has published an article from March 4, 2012. I knew the Brits were smart, but to see one month into the future was even more than I expected.

Of course, there could be another explanation. That the Education Editor dropped out of math in school… 😉

telegraph-blooper

 

The web is the most common place to complain

According to a UK survey by Lightspeed Research, customers are now making complaints about brands more often on the web than on the phone. It is far more common among 18-34 year-olds to complain on Facebook than among older consumers (15% compared to 5% and 4%).

How do you normally make complaints about brands?

How do you complain
Consumers expect brands to respond quickly. 13% expect a reaction within an hour and 63% within a day or less (50 + 13%).

How quickly would you expect a brand to get back to you? (those who lodged a complaint online)

chart customer complaints

UK newspapers can charge for links, says High Court

The British newspaper industry is fighting tooth and nail to stop commercial services from aggregating links to newspaper content for free. In January 2010, The National Licensing Agency (NLA), which is owned by eight newspaper publishers in the UK, started charging sites that link to newspaper’s online articles as part of their paid-for services.

Today the High Court in the UK ruled in favour of the National Licensing Agency in the case against Meltwater. The Court concluded that aggregated web links taken from newspaper websites are protected by copyright law.

Separate Copyright Tribunal proceedings on the matter are expected to take place in February 2011.

Full story on the Press Gazette.

PR executives don’t monitor blogs

One in two PR executives are not doing their job properly. A survey of more than 1100 PR executives from agencies and corporations in the US and UK reveal that 49% of respondents don’t even monitor blogs. Furthermore it says that:

“63% have not adapted their communications strategy to include proactive outreach to blogs, message boards, and other forms of digital mediums.”

Blogs are fairly easy to monitor and there are a number of free tools available. Next things to watch are wikis, social networking sites, Second Life, YouTube etc that need to be on PR executives’ radar.