The talk on defamation and social media was given by Michael Clarke, a partner of commercial litigation, at Clarke Willmott LLP.
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Mr Clarke said: "Tweeting is well recognised by PR/marketing people as a major opportunity to promote your business. I'm afraid though as a lawyer it's me who has to pick up the pieces when it goes wrong."
He had this piece of key advice for planners: "Remember this if you take nothing else away from this session. If you tweet it's just another form of publication, it's the same as putting a piece in a newspaper or into another traditional form of media. The rules of defamation still apply."
Many people get mistakenly carried away or "overblown" with the idea of freedom of speech, thinking this is some kind of defence for their defamatory words, he said.
He said: "That's when you are running dangerously into trouble."
He warned Twitter users that there are dangers attached to retweeting as well. A retweet is effectively publishing something again, therefore attaching its own libel perils.
He strongly recommended businesses should protect themselves from legal action arising from their employee's tweets by establishing a clear code of conduct or guidelines for social media use. He said to be even safer that it would be wise to attach this to a staff member's contract of employment.
He said this does not have to be lengthy, just concise and clear.
If a tweet has been sent out and a complaint made, he encouraged a quick apology. He said this was a "tremendous" way to restore its position and distance the firm from the offensive message.
He said: "Don't clam up, don't try to defend it, say we're very sorry and we want to put it right."
The talk was introduced by new IFP board member Andrew Brook-Dobson CFPCM, director of Brook‐Dobson Brear.