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Perils and possibilities of online social networks: has your client been networking on Facebook or MySpace? If so, you need to know about it - because your opponent will. These online meeting places also are a rich source of information about companies, a defendant's employees, and other witnesses.

Article Excerpt
Answer only the question asked; do not volunteer information." You have almost certainly given this standard instruction when preparing a client for deposition. After all, the last thing you want is for the plaintiff to reveal damaging personal information to a defense attorney. But imagine that the defense lawyer showed up armed with a full history taken from your client's personal diary--and you had no idea your opponent had it.

Welcome to MySpace, one of the most popular sites on the Internet, where millions of users post personal information for all the world to see. It's a major part of the growing trend in online social networking (OSN)--a new form of personal interaction that many lawyers ignore at their peril. Wikipedia, the well-known online encyclopedia, explains that OSN focuses on building online

communities of people who share interests and activities or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most services are primarily Web-based and provide a collection of various ways for users to interact, such as chat, messaging, e-mail, video, voice chat, file sharing, blogging, discussion groups, and so on. (1)

I began paying attention to OSN Web sites and blogs after reviewing the personal computer of my client's deceased adolescent son, who had thrown himself off the 24th floor of a building just weeks after he began taking the defendant's antidepressant. The defense attorney had requested any documents--including electronic ones--that showed the son's behavior, thoughts, or feelings while he was taking the defendant manufacturer's drug. The young man's entries on his personal Web site illustrated clearly that evidence of communication and self-expression in this form--both favorable and potentially harmful--has become permanent.

The Internet has brought millions of people together, and this population of "netizens" is growing. As one writer noted, "If MySpace alone were a country and each of its profiles a person, it would be the 12th most populous nation in the world." (2) As of January 2008, MySpace had 110 million active users around the globe. One in four Americans has a MySpace page; on average, 300,000 new people sign up every day. MySpace has become this country's most trafficked site on the Internet, and in the United Kingdom, it is as common to have a MySpace page as it is to own a dog. (3)

Facebook, another popular OSN site, has more than 60 million active users, with an average of 250,000 new registrations per day since January 2007. Users spend an average of 20 minutes on the site daily; more than half the active users return every day, and the number of active users is doubling every six months. (4)

Formerly considered the exclusive province of teenagers, OSN sites are quickly becoming popular among almost all age groups. ComScore, a global Internet information provider, reported in 2006 that the visitors to MySpace and Friendster (another...

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