One of our staff members at Metzger worked at a Fortune 500 company when that company got its first voice mail system. One day, a member of the PR staff there -- who, they all learned, was dating another staffer -- sent a steamy voice mail message to her beau. Sadly, rather than sending the message to the intended person, she sent the message to the entire PR staff. Needless to say, she got a lot of ribbing over the next several weeks.
Today's technology is making goofs even more public. In a similar (but non-sexual) story, Steve Rubel of PR firm Edelman recently found himself needing to apologize for a post he made on Twitter saying he threw his complimentary subscription to PC Magazine away. Editor Jim Louderback didn't take too kindly to this, and posted a terse response on Strumpette.
We've all read stories about students getting in hot water over an errant MySpace post, but here we have a full-blown professional faux paux from someone fully engaged in Web 2.0.
Some thoughts:
- So many of us are so comfortable with tools like email we get a false sense of privacy for electronic communications. In this case, a flip comment on a very public forum did serious damage to a relationship Edelman needs.
- Mistakes are becoming more and more public. A blow-up like this 10 years ago would have ended with a handful of people even knowing about it. Today, such an incident is posted, passed on, perma-linked and pondered by hundreds or even thousands -- like us -- who weren't involved.
- Rubel is an executive with many years of experience, so he'll probably come through this OK in the end. Such an incident could easily derail the career of an entry-level employee.
- On the other hand, Rubel is an executive with many years of experience (and pretty savvy in the blogosphere). Does that make such a slip even worse?
We're in a brave new world of communications, and new tools are emerging and gaining traction all the time. The cover of the most recent Wired Magazine call for companies to "get naked" and show complete transparency in communications. The key is to be transparent while showing restraint. It's OK to be blunt and even reveal flaws, but think it through. Perhaps Rubel was simply stating that he read PC Mag online rather than on paper, but the incomplete and casual remark on Twitter didn't say that, and he's feeling the wrath of an editor scorned.
In the end, it's OK (and advisable) to be both transparent and thoughtful.
Long time reader, first time commenter; great post, interesting topic. My thoughts: In this day of ultra fast communications very public mistakes are becoming more and more common. Some internet guidelines to bear in mind:
*If you are going to have a personal blog or My Space account, either use an alias or bear in mind your boss most likely has a computer, your name and a brain. If you skip a day of work, don't blog about it on your My Space account...that may work out badly for you.
* If you like to type off color things to your favorite people, bear in mind that anything you put in print could become public at any given time...actually, that rule has been around since the old days of paper letter writing: words are remembered a matter of minutes, print lasts forever.
*There is no such thing as "right to privacy" when you are on your company's e-mail. If you type naughty on the business network, that also may work out poorly for you.
*If you type naughty from your home computer, well, that's fair game as well...if you type it, be prepared to back it up without blushing at any given time in the future. It's a litigious society we live in and most PC's come with a printer...you do the math.
*Last thing: If you are worried about it, here's an idea, it's called "the telephone". It's an archaic invention, but if you use a land line your odds of being documented in print are much lower...I repeat from above, "words are remembered for minutes, print lasts forever". If you have something less than PC to say, well, try dialing instead of typing.
Just an old fashioned idea of mine from the 80's...
Posted by: Charles Farley | May 14, 2007 at 12:53 AM