Think Before You Speak (Tweet, Post, Etc.)
Those of us who work with social media and use it for ourselves face the challenge of keeping our accounts straight. For me this challenge isn’t very hard because I’m very conscientious of my social media usage. I also try to not come across as an idiot on my personal accounts too.
My bosses, my clients and my grandmother can find me very easily online and the last thing I want to do is look unprofessional or immature to any of them. Also, I’d very much like to add value to the internet with what I do.
During last night’s debate, the KitchenAid Twitter account featured a very unprofessional, rude and grammatically unsound, tweet that promoted a lot of bad things being said about people who do what I do (that would be operate social media accounts on behalf of companies). There’s already been a significant amount of age-ist commentary about having 20-somethings run a company’s social media efforts.
This article, with the headline: KitchenAid Tweet Shows, Yet Again, Why Social Needs Mature Talent made me cringe. Someone who typically acts as the voice for a brand screwed up and made the rest of us look bad… again.
This is the bottom line as far as I’m concerned: Think before you speak.
Pausing before sending a tweet is enough to help you realize that you’re logged into the wrong account or that you’re about to let your emotions, strong opinions or whatever else take over and make you look like a fool.
I may not always act professional on my own social accounts, but I strive to act like a mature human being. Something that KitchenAid should look for in a replacement community manager for their Twitter account.
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Posted on October 4, 2012, in Rants, Social Media, Twitter and tagged KitchenAid, politics, professionalism, Social media, Technology and Communication, Twitter. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
I only tweet for my personal being but it still seems so simple to me – not post anything that will bring unwanted consequences or make you regret it later. I would never even think of posting something controversial or offending on my own behalf, no less on the behalf of an employer. You are right, some people just need to think before they share their thoughts.
Thank you, Rachel, for bringing this up. I too try to be respectful anywhere I write anything online (and I don’t do that professionally, except – loosely interpreted – on my personal LinkedIn profile). Some people just need to have a little more pride in their jobs and more respect for themselves. You can’t have a supervisor reading everything you write before it goes public (or can you?)
I can’t imagine writing something like that on my personal or professional social media accounts. That’s probably the lesson in all of this!
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