For agents, he says, what they need to decide first is when it comes to social networking who the people are that they are trying to reach. “Wherever they are that is where you need to be,” he says.

However, in building their social network, agents need to be mindful of certain potential exposures that could cause them trouble.

He suggests that agents first build a blog of information postings and then build their networking site around that. But in posting a blog, the first E&O concern is to make sure that the information they post is correct for the audience they are addressing, Amrhein notes.

“What is right in one state may be wrong in another,” he points out. “You can't just unleash this stuff.”

Among some of his E&O tips:

• Know the rules of advertising and dissemination of information. Consult with an expert, either an attorney or an association to make certain it is permitted. “You don't have to reinvent the wheel, but you have to know what the wheel was before you started,” says Amrhein.
• Be cautious about what you want the world to know before posting. If you don't want everyone to know it, don't post it.
• Put up privacy declarations on any page where the agency can make customer contacts telling clients not to transmit personal information over their Internet correspondence.
• Agents should use their own voice in whatever they post online. But where they use others' material they need to get permission and get it in writing to avoid copyright infringement. A simple e-mail will do the trick. Make authorship clear to the reader.
• In sharing information, look for link-share buttons—Facebook and Twitter, for example—that say the owner of the information wants it shared; if it is not there, get permission from the owner. “Just don't grab it,” Amrhein says.
• Personally Identifiable Information (PII) should always be secure, whether it is online or in the office setting. Never transmit personal information over an unsecure site. A secure site always has an “s” at the end of HTTP.