LAS VEGAS — Credit unions which are beginning to use socialmedia tools to promote their mortgages and other products andservices need be aware of different regulatory and legalrequirements that can oversee what is being said on social media.

The meeting is being held at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegasthrough Thursday.

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Kris Kully, counsel at the Washington, D.C., firm of K&LGates LLP, urged attendees at a breakout session Tuesday at the16^th annual meeting of the American Credit UnionMortgage Association to think imaginatively and creatively abouthow some long established legal principles can carry over intosocial media.

For example, Kully told the executives about a clientinstitution which had recently wanted to use Facebook to promote acontest that in turn promoted its mortgage refinanceprograms.

The credit union had come to the firm for advice after one ofthe executives wondered if there were any regulatory problems withthe effort and, in fact, there could be because of that state'santi-gambling laws that forbid games of chance.

The organization wound up changing the rules of the contest tomake sure that the contest did not appear to be a game of chancewith a prize.

Other precautions include limiting the number of employees whouse social media in the name of the firm and making sure that if anemployee writes in favor of the firm's products and services evenon his or her personal Facebook page or Twitter account that theydisclose they are an employee of the organization, Kully said.