Condo Corporations in the Era of Social Media

Condo corporations are both organized communities and highly regulated businesses that handle large amounts of money and are tasked with maintaining property values. This can lead to conflicts and legal battles due to residents being unclear about their and their condo corporation’s responsibilities and choosing to post public condemnations that go beyond what has been considered acceptable. Condo directors discussing condo business through personal social media sites blurs the line between condo business and other matters. Unregulated social media communications in communities can inflame tensions, create financial liabilities, and result in lawsuits. Misuse of social media within communities can defeat the purpose of electing a condo board to manage the corporation and community. The most important details are that condo corporations should limit social media communications to official social media sites controlled by the corporation, avoid discussing budgets or expenditures on Twitter or Facebook, limit social media communications to facts, general information and announcements, avoid opinions and anything that can be controversial, retain hard copy records, have a moderator approve comments before posting, keep the social media site private, and require site members to agree to a code of conduct.