How Not to Use Twitter

Chris,

Thanks for sharing that story. It's amazing how people forget their common sense while they are on the internet. Sometimes it may not be as drastic as James Andrews' but it can still have a negative effect on your reputation (personal and professional).

I have a friend who's a prominent lawyer but selected a slightly perverted Twitter name. Then I have another friend who's an executive at a very large bank and constantly posts embarrassing pictures of herself in Vegas.

People need to realize that what you put on the internet is not "personal" it's public and there for can effect your professional life.

My take on this whole situation is that this should have been a learning opportunity for Fedex to understand that social media means reading what people REALLY think. It is what you do with that information will make or break you in social media. If you can embrace and engage those that make negative comments about you, you will earn more respect with real people, than if you send out letters saying you are offended by their opinions.

Social media is PEOPLE not old school professional ethics.

Open mind, close mouth

I'm not sure if I agree with Allison above. People are emotional, and all are usually proud of their hometown, even if it's not London or Paris. It always pays just to be polite, especially if you're blasting out messages over Twitter!

- Dave

I disagree with Allison, too. Why should social media be any different than the way we've always 'socialized'? We shouldn't go around offending people face to face, so why should we on twitter or any other social media site? Who says that common sense social grace is 'old school', anyway? Honestly, I don't always want people to know what I REALLY think...trasparency can go too far.

Thanks for sharing this story--it was a opportunity to once again point out to my 12 year old how it was important it is to watch what he says on-line--even "grown-ups sometimes forget....." and the best rule of thumb especially if you want to do business with someone is if you can not say something nice....don't say anything at all.

Hi Chris - Thanks for the hat tip. I think the response is interesting, especially if you compare it with the responses of other people who got called out for their uses/abuses of social media. Matt Bacak comes to mind - he came out and apologized for the incident that led to him being called a "social media douchebag" on the Digg homepage (I won't link, but you can google it). While I thought Bacak's apology wasn't a great one, he did seem to have a bit of a sense of humor about it. Responses to being called out publicly like this can be tricky.

I wouldn't fault someone in Andrews' situation if their response was a little annoyed/defensive.... except in this case (or both cases, actually) the person in question is identified as a social media professional (who, in Andrews' case represents a large agency). That changes the dynamic. The standards to which he is/should be held is higher; not to mention that he should know that since the original story has already gone "hot" his response would probably get some play too. Contrition could help stop the story in its tracks and make him look like the gracious party. Defensiveness could come back to bite him and end of generating a lot of "self-proclaimed social media experts are snarky jerks" comments (because that, as you know, is a recurring theme that a lot of people enjoy perpetuating).

FWIW, I think the amount of flak he's getting is probably unfair, and the FedEx exec probably overreacted a little bit. But the story is what it is now, and you can't unring the bell. As a "social media pro", Andrews should to assess the situation and realize that he probably needs a strategy to deal with the fallout. An off-the-cuff response on his blog might end up backfiring. He has two audiences, and one of those audiences wants an apology, not an excuse or deflection (e.g., "these guys got offended because they misunderstood me")

p.s. To be fair, I believe the story first "broke" here (based both on the timestamp and the number of times this link has crossed my Twitter stream in the past week): http://shankman.com/be-careful-what-you-post/

Chris,
Thought long and hard about the book title, and decided on "The Media Savvy Leader" because there are an awful lot of talented, creative, smart people in the world who might be executives, managers, directors or just people in business want to know the tips and secrets to become a 'leader." This book is for them, and delivers the answers. Those people are leaders.
David

When I first read about this on HARO, my initial response was to roll my eyes.

If Twitter is about people and authenticity, then we should be allowed to state our opinions. I'm not a big fan of BS, and I'd rather someone be honest than try to kiss @$$. At that point you're no longer talking social media, you're back in traditional sales/PR land :)

That being said, it IS an important lesson: what we say in public is.. public. I understand how the FedEx folks wouldn't be too excited to hear from this person. The fact that *they* were monitoring *him* is the best part of the story, and has got to leave you asking if they were really the best group for him to be speaking to (they clearly are more "up" with social media than many folks out there).

To me, this is not just about social media tools; it is also a good reminder about common sense human relations principles that aren’t commonly applied.

Dale Carnegie suggested the following in 1936 in chapter one of his best selling book “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, and it applies just as much in 2009 as it did then:

“Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.”

A good reminder from this incident to apply that principle in daily life, including on Twitter, don’t you think?

HTWF&IP is one of my favorite books - so much so that it inspired me to become certified as one of the youngest Dale Carnegie trainers and I had the privilege of conducting the course for many years. One of the best things I've ever done - they say you learn a lot from teaching, and I think that is so!

I'm considering writing a series on my blog about how to apply Dale Carnegie's principles on Twitter. What do you think, if you've read that book, would there be value in applying those same principles on Twitter?

@davideckoff

Thanks for sharing Chris. I have now used it as a post (fully acknowledging my sources) on my blog (http://moregspinsights.blogspot.com/2009/01/how...). Lessons that anyone using social media should learn - you never know who is tracking you or why ..... nor how they might interpret something that you have said. Admuttedly it's easy to see how Andews may have thought Memphis was the pits and innocently twittered this to world but.... given that he is supposedly a social media expert not so very intelligent on his part.

It's obvious that his client, Fed-Ex was appalled at his tweet. Whether or not his comment was extreme and/or notable, his client didn't like it and that's the endgame.

For some reason, Mr. Andrews wife jump into the fray makes it much more unprofessional to me.

i'm pleased to see several commenters coming down on the side of the issue i support. i think everyone can agree that his tweet was not smart, but it was in no way wrong. i agree with allison's point that "If you can embrace and engage those that make negative comments about you, you will earn more respect with real people, than if you send out letters saying you are offended by their opinions."

of course, michelle's point is also very valid. PR is a service and at the end of the day, a happy client is paramount.

@mdd044

I strongly believe that principles are, at the core, the defining quality of a person and not their personality.

One worthy principle to live by is to be loyal to those not present. How one speaks to those present is how one speaks about those that just left as well. \

Participation in social media like Twitter seems to me to encourage a more cavelier attitude. Speaking personally, this is not always about being honest, authentic or transparent. More often it is just attention seeking; even being a bit of a jack@$$. There are those followed and followers after all.

I am sure there will be those that dissagree that it is a problem of pandemic proportions. I do too. Yet I think, in honesty, many will agree that it is an inherrant pitfall.

I find this incident an opportunity to consider that it is not a best practice to consider others, just because there is a risk of exposure leading to a situation such as this, but that it is the right thing to do period.

@DDGriffith

Does anyone think the lengthy response by the FedEX PR professional was a little strange or unsusual?

One theory that me and my colleagues talked about was entertaining the idea that this whole "blow up" was in fact the strategy that Andrews and FedEx was hoping for.

Think about it. Andrews' main goal is to generate good publicity for his client, FedEX. I think it mentioned somewhere that his company is getting paid millions to do so. ANd if he is a social media professional, he could definitely have predicted or hoped that such an outrage and buzz would be generated by all the top "social media" and "PR" blogs. The response by FedEX seems to really be highlighting how great and noble they are, and how much they love Memphis. And also, because of this buzz, Andrews is getting way more publicity himself, it is bad, but he is getting a lot more followers on twitter, and he will be continued to be monitored in his reactions from now until almost forever. This whole thing really makes FedEx look like the most noble, hard working, and community conscious company ever existing, and who knows, maybe Andrews took one for the team in order to give his client a HUGE publicity boost. No one really will ever know I guess.

In Andrews' tweet, he doesn't even mention Memphis. He just says "one of those towns." That could be anywhere. People have the right to not like certain cities. It all seems sort of fishy to me.

Personally, I agree with Andrea. Social Media is about being transparent and showing your personality. So what if he doesn't like Memphis. How many people in Memphis actually tweet and would see that? Prob not too many,

Sometimes the best way to creat buzz and publicity is to make a mistake and then apologize, showing that you are in fact a real human capable of mistakes. After all, isnt that the point of companies jumping on the Social Media bandwagon? To humanize themselves?

Jeff F's take on this is potentially right. And if it's not - it will possibly encourage some companies to do exactly what he suggests that Andrews and Fedex may have done.

"People who live in glass houses should not throw stones." Nuff said...

I guess it's like 'normal socializing' - you have to watch what you say, unless you're around your close friends.

@Andrea It’s not just a matter of Mr. Andrews talking about Memphis with no expectations of anyone from Fed Ex ever seeing his tweet, or of his “just being honest.” He is supposed to be someone used to working in social media. Plus he was going to Fed Ex to present to them about social media, probably using his own Twitter stream as an example. I’m guessing that he thought he was probably talking with his friends, and any larger implications of his statement, or the response he might get from his client, was far from his mind.

And apparently this had enough of an impact on the relationship between his firm and the client that statements had to be written from both sides. Shel Holtz raised a good point about this on the “For Immediate Release” podcast, will this impact Andrews’ working relationship with the communications staff at Fed Ex?

Another question I'm pondering is, how tightly is your social media persona (might not be the best word, my apologies) connected with the company you work for, especially if you’re building a client base around your ability to navigate the social media waters?

We saw the same kind of tempest in a Twitter-pot a couple of years ago when Steve Rubel stumbled on a tweet about PC Mag, with the usual apologies and eventual handshakes all the way around. If nothing else, this is a learning experience for Mr. Andrews. Hopefully he, and a lot of us in PR by extension, can learn from this and become better social media/PR practitioners.

It’s like Thomas Jefferson said, “When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred.”

@JeffF “How many people in Memphis actually tweet and would see that? Prob not too many.”

Unfortunately it was enough to get the ball rolling on this. While the Fed Ex employee should have probably had a little thicker skin about his town, there are always those people who are very passionate about the community they live or play in, whether it’s Memphis, Albuquerque or London, and they are willing to defend it.

I’d add one thing my fiancée (a former ER nurse) tells me when I screw up, “Nobody died. What’s next?”

Chris,
Thanks for the heads up! I missed it on HARO and Twitter.

Selling one's ideas require selling one's self. Is it worth it to go for the quick-witted remark at the expense of your long-term relationships? I'm in no position to judge. I've made the same kind of mistakes too often in my life. But I have learned from those blunders and am far more inclined to let my 'editor' say "shut up."

I linked back to your blog to let folks know where I get great insights.

Charles Gupton
Blog: http://charlesgupton.wordpress.com/
On Twitter @ http://twitter.com/CharlesGupton

The real YOU becomes ever more transparent online. Good, bad or ugly! The more you talk, the less you can hide about yourself. Reminds me of another advice I got that you can learn a lot about a person if you spend 5 hours talking when you play golf with them.

The right to speak your mind is not a license to be disrespectful. But you do have the right to show your true personality. And all of us will tend to choose to do business with people we like. Social tools just allows us to really know the real YOU!

Instead of saying be more careful online, I'd say, just be more respectful in general - online or offline!

Thinking beyond just the socializing graces many have referred to here, where does one have to draw the line? Ok, don't say anything bad about the company's hometown, don't say his suit was ugly or his deodorant wasn't doing the job. What about political or social views? What if I am hard left or hard right? Pro-choice, pro-life? How about my sexual activity preferences? I have no idea what my potential associate thinks; what his/her views are on the "taboo" topics. I might appeal to one guy in the room, and not the other gal. Its a crap shoot.

Maybe I need to keep my mouth shut on anything that is not business related. Maybe have a "personal account" and a "professional account" (you can follow yourself... and run around in circles, I guess! lol)

I recently ran into this problem when I decided to allow my young teenagers to get their Facebook accounts. Naturally, Mom was invited to be a friend. But then comments left on my wall, or the ones I left on others' walls were showing up on my teens' walls. The posts were mostly about political issues, or the "Pepsi-Coke" debate between Linux & Windows. My kids responded to my choice of PCLOS over Ubuntu with "HUH??? what are are you talking about mom???" And when friends posted some party pics of overindulging adults, those also showed up. Many of their friends had become my friends. And the 14- & 15-year olds were not interested in my views on the economy or open source software choices. Solution: two FB accounts. One PG13 rated, and one Mom rated. Its a bit cumbersome sometimes, but as it turns out, it was a wise choice. So I keep one FB account open on IE and one open on FF. And hopefully, never the twain shall meet.

I have set up Google Alerts for my name and my company name. The strangest stuff shows up! I'm "archived" all over the place. So even deleting my Twitter posts, or blog posts, or forum spewing will not erase my past. All those skeletons in the closet are now virtual as well - and its getting crowded in there!

So, I'm thinking I'm going to do the same for Twitter, as I did for FB - two accounts, one personal and one professional. Some opinions may be better left un-shared. (Twitter is "less safe" because you don't need permission to follow.) Because, I may go out in my racey new little black dress and diamond-heeled stilettos and tip back a few margaritas with the goils, but more than likely I won't invite my potential new client or the CEO of a company I work with to join us. (Wow, it just occurred to me... I may need THREE FB accounts! ;p )

Important to note that Mr. Andrews' tweet didn't mention FedEx or Memphis - it was, in fact, an expression of irritation after being subjected to a racial incident. The picture is actually quite different than what people are discussing.

Common Sense is always the missing factor. Think before you Tweet! :-)