The Judicial Conference Committee for the federal courts has recently updated its instructions regarding jurors and social media. These new instructions are available here.
"The overwhelming majority of judges take steps to warn jurors not to use social media during trial, but the judges surveyed said additional steps should be taken," said Judge Julie A. Robinson, the Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management (CACM) chair. "The judges recommended that jurors frequently be reminded about the prohibition on social media before the trial, at the close of a case, at the end of each day before jurors return home, and other times, as appropriate. Jurors should be told why refraining from use of social media promotes a fair trial. Finally, jurors should know the consequences of violations during trial, such as mistrial and wasted time. Those recommendations are now part of the guidelines."
Another resource is GOOGLE, GADGETS, AND GUILT: JUROR MISCONDUCT IN THE DIGITAL AGE by Thaddeus Hoffmeister
[T]he Article explores possible steps to limit the negative impact of the Digital Age on juror research and communications. While no single solution or panacea exists for these problems, this Article focuses on several reform measures that could address and possibly reduce the detri-mental effects of the Digital Age on jurors. The four remedies discussed in this Article are (1) pe-nalizing jurors, (2) investigating jurors, (3) allowing jurors to ask questions, and (4) improving juror instructions. During the discussion on jury instructions, this Article analyzes two sets of jury instructions to see how well they adhere to the suggested changes proposed by this Article. This is followed by a draft model jury instruction.
