Ducks in a Row: Preventing Corporate Foot-In-Mouth Disease
by Miki Saxon
Yesterday’s post focused on the difference between mindful and mindless social media usage as private individuals.
The problem is more far-reaching when the person speaking heads or publicly represents the company, whether as an employee or celebrity spokesperson.
Foot-in-mouth disease isn’t anything new.
What is new is its global reach and immortal status.
The problem is best summed up in a comment from Lee Rainie, a Pew Research Center specialist in the social influence of digital technologies.
“Despite all of the warnings, all of the evidence to the contrary and all the material floating around proving otherwise, people still think that when they’re sitting alone typing something out, they know exactly who their audience is. But the specific character of digital information is that it’s replicable, repeatable, and there are lots of outlets now that are interested in these stories.”
One further warning.
The “outlets” mentioned above — old and new media, pundits, individuals and trolls — like nothing better than to take that private email, joking tweet or casual image and spin it into something that supports or illustrates their own viewpoint — no matter how badly they distort it or how warped the application.
Image credit: US Geological Survey
