Most people remember the trouble caused by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings posting corporate statistics on his personal Facebook account.  After first censuring Hastings, the SEC has now concluded its related investigation and apparently has seen the social media “light” and is warming up to the medium.  Subsequently, digital marketers nationwide can breathe a collective sigh of relief.  But what exactly are these policy changes and what do they mean for Social Media Marketing?

Here is what the SEC had to say in their press release yesterday:

“Washington, D.C., April 2, 2013 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today issued a report that makes clear that companies can use social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to announce key information in compliance with Regulation Fair Disclosure (Regulation FD) so long as investors have been alerted about which social media will be used to disseminate such information.”

So this new freedom for CEOs and companies comes with one large stipulation: Investors must be informed of the company’s social media strategy before messages like Reed Hastings infamous post (see below) are fair game.

The SEC’s clarification not withstanding, don’t expect a flood of information to be disclosed via social media, because no company or CEO wants to get on the wrong side of the SEC.  That being said, it is nice to have some breathing room on social communication without constantly looking over your shoulder for the regulators.

The world is changing, and people are getting more and more of their information through social media, so it’s refreshing to see the SEC take these positive steps to define safe social media usage.  It only makes sense that the SEC should consider public social media posts to be public. Reed Hastings and the folks at Netflix seem to agree.  If content is labeled public, it should be treated as such legally. In the digital era, a social media post is more “public” in many ways and can better inform the masses than a standard press release might.  Think about it, how did you first hear about the change in regulations?  You probably didn’t read the above cited press release.  For that matter, how do you get most of the news and information you use on a daily basis?  To that end, it’s a wonder that it took this long for the SEC to address the dissemination of information via social media.  But perhaps these updates are the first step in a more proactive social media policy.