I have heard that some folks are leery of engaging with prospects, applicants and residents through social media because of fair housing concerns.  Those concerns are along the lines of “my leasing staff will see photos of people and I am worried that someone will say that those photos influenced a decision related to the rental opportunity”.    Could that be a problem?  Of course!  BUT…there is no more risk with social media interactions between landlords and prospects/applicants/residents than there has been since the first leasing office opened its doors long, long ago.  Leasing agents see prospects (and thus see their race, their color, disability, etc.); leasing agents hear prospects on the phone and then can often discern race, national origin, etc.   Even email interactions can lead to profiling as email addresses often include one’s name and often workplace or other affiliation.  Bottom line, social media gives no more information than landlords have been getting all along. So while it is always smart to be aware of fair housing issues (yes, indeedy), there is no need for special concern with social media.   Landlords just need to be sure that they have good written policies and criteria in place for all interactions with prospects, applicants and residents.  And then landlords need to be sure they have good employees who can be counted on to follow those good policies and document that they are doing so.   So don’t be afraid to engage in social media interactions as part of your marketing or resident retention strategy.  (If you are afraid, then you may also want to consider having ways to cover up the prospects when they come in, or a policy whereby the leasing staff closes their eyes and never looks at them.  Voice disguising software can be used for telephone interactions.)