Managing media relations is important—and not something that lawyers are always good at. Often you have to balance the legal risk of a statement against the business risk of not making one to the brand. You have to understand your client and their business—a $10 million fine may hurt much less than a three-month drop in sales or loss of certain clients. Effective compliance professionals understand the benefits and dangers of both social media and traditional media. Social media can serve as an outlet to attract consumers in innovative ways and boost sales, but the tide of consumer favor can change in the click of a mouse and magnify any compliance issue.

The Target breach should remind in-house counsel that social media can be both a business and compliance enabler. Target’s data breach was disclosed by a blogger before the company publicly disclosed the issue. And while social media magnified the issue and reputational risk, Target also subsequently used social media to address the compliance fallout. Following social media and using it intelligently can give a company time to adequately address a compliance issue before it turns into the next trending topic on Twitter.

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