As technology advances, corporations are increasingly discovering that employee gossip has migrated from the office water cooler to instant messaging platforms. IM programs can be internal or external. They allow employees to instantly exchange ideas and observations, or to collaborate with others. Unlike real-world conversations in corporate lunchrooms or around employee cubicles, however, instant messages can be captured, preserved and ultimately displayed in the courtroom. Both in-house and outside counsel should be aware of the potential legal risks surrounding IMs, as these instantaneous chat conversations can implicate regulatory requirements and/or electronic discovery obligations during litigation.
Instant Messaging in the Workplace
IM use continues to accelerate. A 2013 survey by Informa Telecoms [PDF] concluded that users sent nearly 20 billion IMs each day, overtaking traditional SMS text messaging. As a natural consequence, IMs are penetrating the workplace at an alarming rate. According to TechNewsWorld, an online technology news publisher, “80 to 90 percent of all companies have some instant messaging in use by employees,” and 80 percent of that IM activity takes place over external programs. This trend will continue as millennials dominate the workforce and demand access to technology used in everyday life outside of work (such as IM programs), and software companies introduce robust enterprise IM systems into the marketplace.
