Be careful what you tweet!  Twitter has been around for the last three years or so and has become all the rage with the Internet 2.0 crowd.  One thing that I caution my clients about when they go onto twitter is this: Make darn sure you UNDERSTAND that anything you write can and will come back to bite you in your ass…so be very, very, very, very careful what you tweet about.  For some strange reason many people think that because a few tweets a day are good, a tweet a minute must be better.  Or because I have a thought right now, I must share it with the world.   Not so says I.  DO NOT tweet, just because you think you need to.

This  Tweet came back to bite the person from Ketchum (New York office) who made some disparaging  remarks about the city of Memphis the morning before he presented on digital media to the worldwide communications group at FedEx (150+) people. A Fed Ex employee found it, was offended by it (as well they should be) and responded as such. But wait, it gets better…they also copied the FedEx Coporate Vice President, Directors and all management of FedEx’s communication department AND the chain of command at Ketchum.

The tweet:

What not to say when your client is FedEx

The employee response:

Mr. Andrews,

If I interpret your post correctly, these are your comments about Memphis a few hours after arriving in the global headquarters city of one of your key and lucrative clients, and the home of arguably one of the most important entrepreneurs in the history of business, FedEx founder Fred Smith.

Many of my peers and I feel this is inappropriate. We do not know the total millions of dollars FedEx Corporation pays Ketchum annually for the valuable and important work your company does for us around the globe. We are confident however, it is enough to expect a greater level of respect and awareness from someone in your position as a vice president at a major global player in your industry. A hazard of social networking is people will read what you write.

Not knowing exactly what prompted your comments, I will admit the area around our airport is a bit of an eyesore, not without crime, prostitution, commercial decay, and a few potholes. But there is a major political, community, religious, and business effort underway, that includes FedEx, to transform that area. We’re hopeful that over time, our city will have a better “face” to present to visitors.

James, everyone participating in today’s event, including those in the auditorium with you this morning, just received their first paycheck of 2009 containing a 5% pay cut… which we wholeheartedly support because it continued the tradition established by Mr. Smith of doing whatever it takes to protect jobs.

Considering that we just entered the second year of a U.S. recession, and we are experiencing significant business loss due to the global economic downturn, many of my peers and I question the expense of paying Ketchum to produce the video open for today’s event; work that could have been achieved by internal, award-winning professionals with decades of experience in television production.

Additionally Mr. Andrews, with all due respect, to continue the context of your post; true confession: many of my peers and I don’t see much relevance between your presentation this morning and the work we do in Employee Communications.

Wow!!!

Did I say content was king??????  You have the power to the information highway, what you do with it is up to you.  What you tweet about, will be held against you.

By the way, this happened in January.  Not only is it still being discussed at the major social media events (like the one last month at Kennesaw State), but it is also still being written about.  I know I always say there is no such thing as bad press, but I might have to rethink that!

Bottom line:  No mater what you think about the social media space , it is here to stay.  So, learn how to  use it to your advantage and create something good.

Scott T. Dunn