In-House Counsel, Media and Journalism

It's Hard -- And Easy -- To Attract Publicity

In the digital age, corporations worry about how any stray comment can go viral.

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It’s funny: In an online, social media, age, corporations worry about how any stray comment can go viral. A story, a video, an indelicate email: Three million page views later, the corporation’s reputation is in tatters.

Anything can cause headaches; it’s easy to attract attention.

On the other hand, it’s awfully hard to attract attention.

Look at all the law firms launching blogs and praying for pageviews. After a blogger writes for himself and his mother for a few months, he gives it up. It’s just too hard to attract attention today.

How are you supposed to know the difference between things that are likely to attract attention and things that are not?

Consider all the litigation cranks we deal with daily: “If you don’t immediately accede to my demands, I’m going to a launch a website called ‘BigCo sucks,’ and you’ll rue the day you met me.”

Unless you already have a million followers on Twitter, you’re no threat.

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Knock yourself out.

You’re just another nutcase, meant to be ignored.

Or: “If you don’t immediately do as I request, I’ll take my story to the New York Times, and everyone will know that your corporation is evil.”

Good luck with that.

Crank.

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Or the lawyers, with you or against you, who are offended by opposing counsel’s conduct in litigation: “But he threatened me! He threatened me! Do you think I should schedule a press conference so the news will get out?”

I do not.

And you’d better not schedule your press conference on my nickel.

If you want to schedule a press conference, go right ahead and schedule it. But don’t charge me for your efforts, and don’t worry about the number of reporters exceeding the capacity of the room.

No one cares.

The key, I suppose, is to have delicate antennae.

Does something have the potential to go viral?

Just another dissatisfied person is unlikely to attract attention. Just another thin-skinned lawyer is unlikely to attract attention.

But be wary of things that are cute. Or unusual. Or funny.

Suppose your competitor is standing in front of an audience and plays a video of the “shinebox” scene from Goodfellas, saying that this is a clip of your star salesman at work.

Everyone in your joint is outraged: “That’s slander! We can’t let ’em get away with it! Sue the bastards!”

Should you sue?

Not in today’s world.

Right now, only the people who were in the audience are aware of the slander. If you sue, two things are very likely to go viral: (1) the use of the film clip is in fact awfully funny and (2) your corporation don’t have a sense of humor.

If you sue, the Streisand effect will kick in. Before you know it, the whole world will know about the slander that offended you. Instead of minimizing the effect of the slander, you’ll have maximized it.

It’s terribly hard to attract online eyeballs.

And it’s terribly easy to attract online eyeballs.

Sometimes, it’s up to the lawyers to decide which type of situation you’re in.

Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and is now responsible for litigation and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Inside Straight: Advice About Lawyering, In-House And Out, That Only The Internet Could Provide (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at inhouse@abovethelaw.com.

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