2016: Our Greatest Hits

Last year we explained how companies could protect their social media currency and heed the FTC's warning on native advertising. We examined court opinions establishing the criteria for enforceable website terms of use and defining the scope of protection afforded to website owners under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. We discussed courts' struggles to interpret emoji and to determine whether "friending" a litigation adversary violates attorney ethics rules. We also explored questions such as whether ad blockers will kill online publishing and whether trolls are killing social media marketing.

We did our best to cover it all. But—of course—some articles resonated with our readers more than others. These were the most popular posts that appeared on Socially Aware in 2016:

  1. New Copyright Office Rule Creates Potential "Gotcha" for Blogs and Websites Hosting User-Generated Content
  2. Social Media Safety Guide for Companies
  3. The Internet of Things: Interoperability, Industry Standards & Related IP Licensing Approaches
  4. Don't Worry, Be (Un)Happy: Does U.S. Labor Law Protect a Worker's Right to a Bad Attitude?
  5. Augmenting Reality: A Pokémon Go Business and Legal Primer
  6. Controversial New Jersey Consumer Protection Law Creates a Potential "Gotcha" for E-Commerce Companies
  7. The Internet of Things: Interoperability, Industry Standards & Related IP Licensing Approaches (Part 2)
  8. #Trademarks?: Hashtags as Trademarks Revisited
  9. Mixed Messages: Courts Grapple With Emoticons and Emoji
  10. Clickwrap, Browsewrap and Mixed Media Contracts: A Few Words Can Go a Long Way

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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