Embarrassing, #FAIL-worthy tweets from corporate accounts is nothing new. When it does happen, media coverage and case studies ensue. Smart brands respond appropriately. Others make the situation worse. The municipality I live in has become the latest victim of the tweet-gone-bad phenomenon. In this case, an offensive, obscene message was tweeted from the corporate account. It’s possible the account was hacked. It’s more likely this was accidental, and the person responsible thought they were updating their personal account. What made this message so offensive is that the tweet criticized city residents and their inability to handle snow – during the biggest snowstorm we’ve seen in years.

This situation gives those of us who aren’t suffering through a real-time PR nightmare a chance to reflect on four basic ways to protect our own organizations from being tomorrow’s social media case-study. [Read more...]