Some poor public relations exec, a VP at a major international PR firm, was flying into Memphis to meet with a client. He had a lapse of judgment as he Twittered how he hated Memphis. Actually, he wrote "True confession but I'm in one of those towns where I'd scratch my head and say 'I'd rather die than live here.'"
A bit harsh for any town, but that's his opinion and he has a right to it.
But how dumb to post it on Twitter where it becomes public.
People from the client (FedEx) saw his Tweet (or should it be twit?) and were outraged, sending emails to the agency and anyone else who might listen, including this one that's been showing up on some blogs and made it onto widely-read Gawker.com...
Many of my peers and I feel this is inappropriate. We do not know the total millions of dollars FedEx Corporation pays ____ annually for the valuable and important work your company does for us around the globe. We are confident however, it is enough to expect a greater level of respect and awareness from someone in your position as a vice president at a major global player in your industry.
It's easy to get caught in a situation like this, since Twitter is about friendly dialogue (and
also, often inane chatter about what you're about to have for dinner or that you just fed your cat). But what you write is going out there in public, and Mr. Big Agency Guy should have had a bit more sense and sensitivity. Oops.
I got caught up in an awkward email faux pas a while back. I had written to a friend some negative comments about the behavior of a mutual acquaintance. Months later, my friend used that old email for my email adrress, hitting reply and then sending me a new message. But my old correspondence was still there, way down below. And she also sent it to someone else, who happened to be good friends of the person I had criticized. How embarrassed was I when the person I had criticized three months earlier forwarded me my original email and asked why, if I had a problem hadn't I gone to her directly. Good point and I learned a valuable lesson.
If you don't want your comments made public, even by accident, don't write them down anywhere online.
As a public relations person, I've told many people to be careful what they say when talking to reporters. "Off the record" is a dangerous thing, because some reporters feel nothing they are told in an interview is off the record. Many years ago, I had set an interview for a client's director of sales with a bright, young and very pretty reporter at Women's Wear Daily. All went very well and as things were wrapping up, my client and the reporter started talking about non-business things -- where are you from, how long have you been with the paper, where'd you go to school, etc. Clearly, my client was smitten by this pretty woman, who was using her charms to distract him.
Seeing he was now at ease, she said she had heard a rumor that the company was about to launch a new line of products that would put it into a different category. I knew they were working on it, but it was supposed to be secret. But the client, under the reporter's spell, spilled the goods before I could stop him.
The news of the new product line made the front page of WWD the following Monday, and the director of sales came within inches of losing his job.
A good example of the need to be careful what you say and where you say it ... online or off.
Update March 16th -- MarketingProfs' newsletter "Get to the Point" talks about this post and offers their own take on it. Click here to see that post. (Thanks Ann.)
Loose lips sink ships, even online. :)
Posted by: Shelly P | January 21, 2009 at 11:08 AM
I heard about this from a friend who lives in Memphis.
He read about it in the Commercial Appeal. Knowing only the details he shared with me, my reaction, as a PR person whose clients have been all over the country and abroad, in towns and cities I may or may not care to live in, was "Fire the man." Was what he did that bad? No. But it showed that he had no judgment. And that is one of the crucial elements that a public relations agency sells. Jeanne
Posted by: Jeanne Byington | January 22, 2009 at 03:00 PM
Cam Beck adds to the discussion with his post today at MarketingProfs Daily Fix. http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2009/02/how_to_avoid_the_perils_of_ble.html#comments
Posted by: David Reich | February 17, 2009 at 02:00 PM
A VP for a large company I worked for long ago wrote a memo (the old school hard copy kind) saying that he had members of a very important federal agency "in his pocket." The memo got to that agency and during a public hearing, the head of the agency brought that memo out and read it back to the VP. Not surprisingly, the next day the VP had left the company to "pursue other interests."
Moral: Never write what you can say and never say what you can gesture.
Posted by: John Riggins | March 16, 2009 at 12:10 PM
Yep, just happened to me (on the receiving end) last on Friday.
Person hit the "Reply" button instead of "Forward" in their email program.
The thing is, the questions and feedback he was seeking from his third party confidant should have just been addressed directly to me. Now, unfortunately there's a bit of a chasm between the two parties and I know he's hoping it doesn't cost him some work.
Mistakes happen, but your post is an extremely important reminder because things like Twitter and Facebook are so public.
Posted by: Kevin Dervin | March 16, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Sometimes, these lessons can be costly. Thanks for your comments Kevin and John. Please don't hesitate to stop by again and add your 2 cents.
Posted by: David Reich | March 16, 2009 at 01:04 PM
Your examples demonstrate a point that is too often missed: it's not the tool that got the exec in trouble. As you point out so well, similar errors in judgment can be communicated by other channels (email, telephone), or even face-to-face, with similar consequences.
As I recall the flap, the PR exec posted his Tweet at the Memphis airport. He could just as easily have made the same statement out loud to a travel companion and been overheard by a Memphis resident who knew someone at FedEx. From there, a phone call, email, or text message to headquarters and the same unpleasant incident could have been broadcast everywhere.
I like to say that nobody ever got fired for blogging (or Tweeting), which always gets an objection. My point: A few have been fired for doing something dumb on their blog. But the same behavior done on the front steps at corporate headquarters, or published in a letter to the editor in one of the remaining newspapers, would have gotten those folks fired just as quickly.
Microsoft's Rule # 1 for blogging should serve well for other social media (and life in general): Don't be stupid.
Posted by: Tom Collins | March 16, 2009 at 04:21 PM
Tom, I think you got it right when you quote Microsoft's blogging rule -- "Don't be stupid." I am constantly amazed at how many people lack common sense.
Posted by: David Reich | March 16, 2009 at 04:44 PM
I will always try to respect 'off the record' but you must say it FIRST, not after the comment.
And it still surprises me how people fail to realise that the web is completely public.
Having said that I'm a little uneasy sometimes about the blurring of professional and personal opinions, especially when using a single login to services like Twitter.
Tim
Posted by: Tim Smith | March 17, 2009 at 05:43 AM