How Facebook and Twitter comments can haunt your career
IT SEEMS like such a good idea at the time, but a few off the cuff comments can totally kill your career if these very public examples are anything to go by.
HAVING heaps of cash and being well hung are the two essential qualities new senator Jacqui Lambie wants in a man.
The reason we know such intimate details?
She told us of course, in a breakfast radio segment which made national news and inundated her office with abusive phone calls. The 43 year old Palmer United Party Senator was eventually forced to apologise but defended her right to make a joke.
“If I can’t let me hair down a little bit and make a joke on a breakfast radio show to lighten people’s day then I think we’re in a bit of trouble,” she said.
It’s just one in a steady stream of gaffes in a digital age where minute mistakes can haunt anyone from an executive to an intern forever.
The same day Jacqui Lambie broadcast requirements for her perfect man, an intern at the US government’s Environmental Protection Agency used the official account to tweet about a Kim Kardashian game online.
The EPA were able to laugh it off but consequences for the intern could have been worse.
High profile PayPal executive Rakesh Agrawal lost his job after accidentally tweeting what he thought were private messages about a colleague.
Business Insider’s former chief technology officer was also forced to resign for running an expletive-filled Twitter account, while public relations executive Justine Sacco also found herself sacked after posting an “outrageous, offensive comment” online.
So what on Earth were they thinking?
Interview IQ expert Karalyn Brown said people just don’t realise how far and wide comments made on social media can go. She said anyone with the “time and the inclination” can do a comprehensive search of every comment, post, tweet or share you’ve made online to create a digital footprint that will last forever.
“You’ve got to assume any comment you make is going to come up somewhere on a Google search ... The conversations you used to have at the pub weren’t published but now they are. The discussions are happening online.”
Don’t think putting a standard disclaimer that ‘opinions don’t reflect those of the company’ will help either. Ms Brown said if you have a job and want to tweet, it’s best double checking with corporate affairs what is deemed acceptable.
“[Use] a good deal of common sense and [don’t post] things that would normally offend people. that are racist, homophobic or sexist. Good society norms are a good place to follow,” she said.
It’s not just individuals getting burned either.
Singapore Airlines was slammed this week for attempting to reassure customers its planes weren’t flying over Ukrainian airspace in the tragic aftermath of doomed flight MH17.
The well-intentioned comments earned them a sharp rebuke on social media, with many deeming it offensive they had dared to tweet something so “insensitive” in the hours immediately following the tragedy.
If reassuring customers is dangerous, trying to be funny is definitely playing with fire.
Royal Dutch Airlines copped a shellacking after tweeting a picture of the departure lounge alongside a man with a sombrero and the words “adios amigos” after the Netherlands beat Mexico in a FIFA World Cup game.
Delta Airlines was also forced to apologise after posting a picture of a giraffe to represent Ghana — before being quickly informed giraffes don’t live there.
Digital strategy agency AndMine’s director and co-founder Michael Simonetti said so many brands are getting it wrong on social media at present as no one knows where exactly the line is.
“I really feel that line is being defined at the moment ... Obviously companies have had a long time to establish themselves in traditional media and get their voice right. Now … the challenge is to get the tone right or the messaging fair.”
Mr Simonetti said using social media is like walking into a party and loudly declaring your opinions. You never know how it’s going to go down.
“That tone of voice and character people are trying to figure out. Because it’s global you’ve got so many people on the other side. You can polarise those people at the party you’re attending and they’ve got the opportunity to bite back.”
While it can be a great place for brands to trial ideas, this has to be balanced against the “soapbox backlash” they can receive from punters. It’s something McDonald’s learned the hard way when they launched mascot Happy in the US. Some said it was so terrifying it would scare kids off McDonald’s for life.
MORE: McDonald’s mascot Happy deemed terrifying online
“It’s so easy to have your two cents, social media is great soapbox they can vent their distaste to the world and people are really active when they’ve got no intention of following through. The difficulty for companies is because it’s public they have to take it seriously,” Mr Simonetti said.
But with social media here to stay both companies and individuals need to get smarter about how they use it.
“We all need to realise this is not going away. Employees look at social media and say who am I in business with? We’re flexible, we understand it takes all types of people but there’s certain things that aren’t socially acceptable and they’re not acceptable online either.”
Originally published as How Facebook and Twitter comments can haunt your career