Twitter and Federal Rules of Evidence 803(1) and 803(2), hearsay exceptions
Earlier this year I was catching up on some eDiscovery and social networking news. While reading the social networking coverage I had an epiphany about twitter. The epiphany stems from using twitter to "tweet" happenings at an event into the twitter system.
Twitter.com is a new social networking phenomenon that is sweeping mobile phone communications like text messaging in Europe throughout the 90's. Twitter works by giving each participant a username, password and twitting spot. Twitter can be configured to follow and work with any type of communication between individuals, groups or even the US House of Representatives. For example, some people are using it to help others keep track of them during a busy work day or travel period. Twitting that you are running late for a meeting or that you are picking up bread on the way home helps family and friends stay connected. This works better than individual text messages because multiple people can follow the stream.
Once you understand the basic premise, it's simple to see that all sorts of information can be posted to twitter about internal activities or personal matters, in the case of civil litigation. For example, several cases related to health insurance, child custody, etc have been fought or are being fought based on information found in My Space and Facebook. Consequences of twitting on twitter should be similar to existing social media, but twitter won't be subject to hearsay based on FRCP 803(1) and 803(2).
Here are a couple examples of people discussing twitter as a medium for meeting notes, capture and conversation tracking:
Twittered content would fall under the same rules as emails. Messages written about an event, during an event would be consider evidence and not hearsay. Expect to see more about Twitter throughout 2008, perhaps law firms will enlist the help of Radian6, Techrigy, etc
Twitter.com is a new social networking phenomenon that is sweeping mobile phone communications like text messaging in Europe throughout the 90's. Twitter works by giving each participant a username, password and twitting spot. Twitter can be configured to follow and work with any type of communication between individuals, groups or even the US House of Representatives. For example, some people are using it to help others keep track of them during a busy work day or travel period. Twitting that you are running late for a meeting or that you are picking up bread on the way home helps family and friends stay connected. This works better than individual text messages because multiple people can follow the stream.
Once you understand the basic premise, it's simple to see that all sorts of information can be posted to twitter about internal activities or personal matters, in the case of civil litigation. For example, several cases related to health insurance, child custody, etc have been fought or are being fought based on information found in My Space and Facebook. Consequences of twitting on twitter should be similar to existing social media, but twitter won't be subject to hearsay based on FRCP 803(1) and 803(2).
Here are a couple examples of people discussing twitter as a medium for meeting notes, capture and conversation tracking:
- A different way of approaching meeting coverage
- Why twitter is not lame (passing on meeting notes)
- Twitter notes @ Twitttown blog
- Tweetmeme.com provides conversation tracking on twitter.com
Twittered content would fall under the same rules as emails. Messages written about an event, during an event would be consider evidence and not hearsay. Expect to see more about Twitter throughout 2008, perhaps law firms will enlist the help of Radian6, Techrigy, etc
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