Twitter Strikes Again, First a Politician, Now a PR Agency
Twitter strikes again. Anthony Weiner was ultimately brought down by his careless Tweeting and now PR agency Redner Group lost it's biggest client, video game publisher 2K, after sending out a single tweet. While Weiner abused the cute blue bird with several lewd tweets, followed by a string of lies in an attempt to throw the blame on an imaginary hacker before finally admitting and apologizing, the Redner Group sent it out and then quickly offered an apology. Regardless, it was too late for both of them.
A PR agency should know better than to inflame it's biggest client. Punishing the reviewers of the game "Duke Nukem Forever" was a bad move. The tweet said, "too many went too far with their reviews. We r reviewing who gets games next time and who doesn't based on today's venom." PR agency founder, James Redner admits to acting entirely on his own, and apologized, but the tweet was out and now he was out a major part of his business.
Social media needs to be used with caution. The instant gratification of sending out your first thought to hundreds or thousands of your closest friends is tempting. Comebacks do not have to be expressed. Take a deep breathe before letting your fingers fly across the keyboard.
Anthony Weiner apologized in a press conference June 16, 2011 "for the embarrassment he had brought to his colleagues, his constituents and, most importantly, his wife."
And Redner said, "I used a public forum to voice my complaints and I know better. I poured my soul into the project and when I read the review I felt like a father trying to protect his son. In hindsight, I should have approached the writer directly."
They were certainly not the first to take a fall due to careless social media. Funny screen shots are passed around all day, employees blasting the employer they forgot was on their friends list, husbands saying things they shouldn't to that crush from high school. Athletes and other corporations have stuck their foot in their mouth through careless tweets. 140 characters isn't much, but it is enough to tarnish a reputation, change public opinion and destroy everything you have worked for. Career suicide is too easy. Think before you tweet.
References:
The Wall Blog
Yahoo! News
A PR agency should know better than to inflame it's biggest client. Punishing the reviewers of the game "Duke Nukem Forever" was a bad move. The tweet said, "too many went too far with their reviews. We r reviewing who gets games next time and who doesn't based on today's venom." PR agency founder, James Redner admits to acting entirely on his own, and apologized, but the tweet was out and now he was out a major part of his business.
Social media needs to be used with caution. The instant gratification of sending out your first thought to hundreds or thousands of your closest friends is tempting. Comebacks do not have to be expressed. Take a deep breathe before letting your fingers fly across the keyboard.
Anthony Weiner apologized in a press conference June 16, 2011 "for the embarrassment he had brought to his colleagues, his constituents and, most importantly, his wife."
And Redner said, "I used a public forum to voice my complaints and I know better. I poured my soul into the project and when I read the review I felt like a father trying to protect his son. In hindsight, I should have approached the writer directly."
They were certainly not the first to take a fall due to careless social media. Funny screen shots are passed around all day, employees blasting the employer they forgot was on their friends list, husbands saying things they shouldn't to that crush from high school. Athletes and other corporations have stuck their foot in their mouth through careless tweets. 140 characters isn't much, but it is enough to tarnish a reputation, change public opinion and destroy everything you have worked for. Career suicide is too easy. Think before you tweet.
References:
The Wall Blog
Yahoo! News
Published by Sylvie Branch - Featured Contributor in Lifestyle
Creative professional with a triple whammy of job titles; freelance writer, artist, educator. Sylvie was a Rising Star for Y!CN in 2009, was part of the Top 1000 in 2010 and won the Lifestyle award in 2011.... View profile
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