It’s hardly news that Twitter gaffes are a professional communicator’s nightmare. Once posted, it’s impossible to recall your tweet and pretend it never happened. We all know intuitively that brand and personal reputation damage is difficult to repair once your “mistake” has gone viral.
Still, seeing one online social media commentator’s current aggregation of the Ten Dumbest Tweets Of All Time is eye-opening. I mean, who pulled the trigger on these tweets, not to mention thought them up? We’ve heard of several – Chrysler/Motor City Drivers is one we at CommCore refer to often when counseling our clients. Others, like the Kenneth Cole debacle, are new to us.
Reviewing these just serves to remind us that old communications rules apply more than ever to new media technologies and PR applications:
· Resist the notion that speedy commenting on the Internet is THE most important communications consideration
· Think before you tweet
· Then think again
· Articulate clearly to yourself WHY you are creating and sending this tweet into the public ether, and WHO your target audience is
· Show the post to someone else for their reaction
· PAUSE one last time before hitting “send”
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