By Brian Malcom 

"Bob likes to kick puppies."  "Eileen likes to wait outside ice cream shops and steal ice cream from small children."  These are the types of libelous statements that could get me slapped with a libel suit if I post them on my Twitter account (or publish them to a blog for that matter...oops).  

The question has already been asked, what's a Tweet worth?  A defendant in a defamation lawsuit could find out the hard way how much her Tweet can cost her.  According to the Chicago Bar-Tender, the plaintiff is seeking $50,000.00 in damages.   The lawsuit stems from a Tweet by the defendant that read, "You should just come anyway.  Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you?  [The plaintiff] thinks it's okay."  The complaint alleges that the defendant "maliciously and wrongfully published the false and defamatory Tweet on Twitter, thereby allowing the Tweet to be distributed throughout the world."  According to the Chicago Bar-Tender, the defendant only had about 20 followers.  The defendant's Twitter account has been closed. 

A few things for YLB readers to learn from this situation: 

• A Tweet is a publication
• In everything you do on Web 2.0, check your privacy settings.  Twitter allows you to "lock" your Tweets.  Though any Tweet would likely still be characterized as a publication for the purposes of libel, it is still a good idea to control who views your content.  If you still insist on keeping your Tweets open, be very careful about what you decide to publish. 
• Do not use Twitter to defame others.  If you decide to publish a Tweet, you had better make sure it's true.
• Advise your clients and friends to be careful with their "Trash-Talking Tweets."
• While this suit involves Twitter, there are many other ways to "publish" defamatory statements in Web 2.0.  Be careful on MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and anywhere else on the internet where you are publishing.
• A video or audio clip recorded and then published on the web can arguably get you in just as much legal trouble as a written statement. (Cough...Cough...YouTube posts....Cough...Cough...CNN iReport posts.)  Be careful with any recording of statements, especially if they're untrue. 

Who wants to predict where the next libel suit will come from?  Let's hope it's not YLB.