{"id":11663,"date":"2021-10-29T11:24:12","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T15:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/?p=11663"},"modified":"2021-10-29T11:24:13","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T15:24:13","slug":"3-scary-social-media-stories-and-what-we-can-learn-from-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2021\/10\/29\/3-scary-social-media-stories-and-what-we-can-learn-from-them\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Scary Social Media Stories and What We Can Learn From Them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Social media is arguably the most powerful gadget in a public relations professional\u2019s toolbox. Every day, millions of people across the globe connect with each other on platforms that enable nearly instantaneous communication. Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook are great places to promote your clients\u2019 services and connect with consumers one-on-one to troubleshoot and answer questions. However, social media platforms are also where many individuals flock to critique, vent and express their frustration at various companies\u2019 and other people\u2019s poor conduct. Here are a few social media mishaps that budding communicators can learn from before they\u2019re doomed to repeat them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Justine Sacco\u2019s Inflammatory Tweets.<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    On December 30, 2013, New York public relations executive Justine Sacco boarded an 11-hour flight to Capetown, South Africa. At the time, Sacco was serving as the senior director of corporate communications at InterActiveCorp, also known as IAC, an Internet and media holding company that manages entities like Care.com, Investopedia, Byrdie and more. Just before she hopped on the plane, she tweeted <\/a>\u201cGoing to Africa. Hope I don\u2019t get AIDS. Just kidding. I\u2019m white!\u201d This poorly worded joke was interpreted as racist commentary by many of the people who viewed it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Her tweet garnered hundreds of impressions and sparked the creation of the hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet. When Sacco reconnected to WiFi after reaching her destination, she was inundated with angry replies. Mere hours later, IAC terminated her employment. In the days and weeks following her initial tweet, people unearthed more of Sacco\u2019s controversial social media posts, photographers followed her alongside her daily routines and the disgraced publicist had difficulty finding work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sacco\u2019s situation teaches young professionals that they should be mindful about what they post online. In December 2013, Sacco had less than 200 followers on Twitter, but her small audience didn\u2019t stop her from becoming a trending topic on the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Adidas\u2019 \u201cYou Survived\u201d Email.<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      On April 15, 2013, two domestic terrorists planted pressure cooker bombs near the end of the usual route of the annual Boston Marathon. The bombs detonated as several thousand runners had yet to cross the finish line and crowds of onlookers swarmed the area, killing three and injuring 260, with 17 people losing limbs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Since the attack, companies sponsoring the race have been very careful with the wording used in advertisements to promote the marathon. Four years later, on April 17, 2017, Adidas sent out a congratulatory email<\/a> to finishers. The subject line of the message read, \u201cCongrats, you survived the Boston Marathon!\u201d Dozens of people took to Twitter to express their disgust at the company\u2019s messaging and the use of the word \u201csurvived.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Adidas\u2019s run-in with disgruntled athletes shows public relations professionals that we should be extremely careful about our wording in certain communications materials. It\u2019s important to research the history and culture of major events to understand what is and isn\u2019t appropriate to include in your marketing efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      3.<\/strong>  Woody Harrelson\u2019s Reddit AMA.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Reddit, a forum and discussion-based social media platform, has a long-running tradition of hosting \u201cAsk Me Anything\u201d interviews, also known as AMAs. During an AMA, an interviewee makes an initial post on r\/IAmA or another subreddit of their choosing indicating that they\u2019re open to a conversation, and registered members comment under their post with questions. Notable participants in AMAs include various politicians, celebrities and scientists, but anyone can make a post to start an AMA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      On February 3, 2021, actor and playwright Woody Harrelson created an account<\/a> on Reddit and opened himself up to questions to promote his upcoming film, Rampart<\/em>. Instead of answering questions about his personal life, work ethic and rehearsal techniques, Harrelson dodged inquiries about anything except Rampart<\/em>, coming off as impersonal, cold and self-absorbed. Some members threatened to boycott the film as a result of this misstep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Harrelson\u2019s mishandling of his Reddit AMA teaches public relations professionals that we should be aware of the culture surrounding different social media platforms. Users of forums like Reddit, microblogging services like Tumblr and Twitter and image-based apps like TikTok and Snapchat communicate in completely different ways. When conducting media training with clients who are unfamiliar with certain social media apps, it\u2019s crucial to discuss the intricacies of the subcultures housed on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Navigating social media mindfully and gracefully in light of tragedies and mistakes may seem nightmarish, but it\u2019s an essential part of crisis communications. These scary stories from the last decade of social media\u2019s rise to prominence hold many lessons for young public relations professionals to reflect on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      Melania Toczko is a senior at DePaul University majoring in communication and media with minors in marketing and public relations. She is the vice president of professional development of DePaul’s PRSSA Chapter and a district ambassador for the Midwest. She has completed several communications-related internships and looks forward to a fulfilling career in public relations. In her free time, she enjoys exercising, cooking and watching movies wit<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Social media is arguably the most powerful gadget in a public relations professional\u2019s toolbox. Every day, millions of people across the globe connect with each other on platforms that enable nearly instantaneous communication. Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook are great places to promote your clients\u2019 services and connect with consumers one-on-one to troubleshoot and answer questions. However, social media platforms […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":11664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3512,2896,3551],"tags":[2595,15,2224,1141,758],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11663"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11666,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11663\/revisions\/11666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}