(Free Press Release) Public companies need to understand the problems associated with using Twitter or Facebook before moving forward.

There's a gold rush on to tout social media services to public companies as the 'new media' format for investor relations campaigns. The only trouble is law firms are still working out guidelines for their clients to follow in setting up Corporate Twitter accounts and Facebook pages and I believe that a word of caution is due about the topic in general.

While the real-time lure of communicating with shareholders through social media is enticing to corporate executives, simply putting up a Twitter page is not enough. You have to follow some basic guidelines, so I've put together some information with links for corporate executives, lawyers still on the learning curve and investor relations practitioners who might gain a better understanding of how to navigate the social media jungle.

Frank Aquila and Sarah Payne with the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell wrote a paper about the many challenges for investor relations and corporate legal departments in this new era of blogs, Facebook and Twitter as it relates to preparing Guidelines for companies and investor relations practitioners to follow.

Msgrs Aquila and Payne stated that, "Because these forums are real or near-time communications that can survive indefinitely with little or no ability to fix errors, and are often in abbreviated formats, corporate legal departments need to work closely with investor relations and press departments to craft guidelines for using these communication outlets." Truer words where never spoken, as it relates to social IR.

Corporate Eye outlines "The Complete Twitter Strategy Rules Guide for Investor Relations." It's geared toward investor relations practitioners and corporate executives alike.

Links to Sullivan & Cromwell's excerpt and Corporate Eye's information can be found on http://www.pricetargetmedia.com/news.html . If you would like a free assessment of what to do next, please feel free to contact us.