Real quick: a round-up of social media news for 5/21

Here’s a brief summary of the most notable developments at the intersection of social media and business.

• Whose social media account is it, anyway? Law firm Littler Mendelson discusses the gray area that arises when employees represent their company on social media — and then want to take the accounts with them when they leave. They argue that a trade secret framework is the right approach:
  

  “The secret of access to the social network account –the password– should be protectable as a trade secret.”

• When it comes to global brands the Financial Times reports that social media networks are not just kingmakers but are also kings, themselves:
  

  Almost a fifth of this year’s top 100 brands are from the technology sector, but the fastest risers are those whose mission is to make social networking, in the words of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, a “utility” like “electricity”.

• The New York Times reports on the new social media presence of the musicians in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. This is a savvy move that can build the individual brands of the most visible musicians, while also helping their collective labor negotiations with the Met:
  

  “[T]he site could come in useful for musicians down the road. Both labor and management have stepped up their public relations efforts as the latest round of contract talks have gotten off to a bumpy start, with contracts at the opera house set to expire on July 31.”