Inappropriate Tweets are Inappropriate

This scenario happens way too often. Someone posts an inappropriate tweet on their company Twitter account. The tweet is pulled, and there is an apology of some sort that comes from the person responsible. The company usually puts out some PR that this tweet was not meant for their account and does not represent the ideals of said company.

If you are looking for some examples of this happening, it doesn’t take a deep dive in Google. They are everywhere, see examples here. Many of the mishaps are on Twitter, but this social site is not alone for company faux pas.

The Chrysler tweet is standard for inappropriateness. For Chrysler’s credit, they did fire the employee, which many companies do not do.

Look, I get it that people will accidentally post something to the brand/company they work for instead of their personal account. It is surprisingly easy to do, considering many of the cross-over posts are made on mobile devices.

My issue is that people are posting these inappropriate things to begin with! When I see examples like the Chrysler tweet, I come back to the same thing. The inappropriate post was still meant to be posted somewhere. It was not that the company was hacked and teenagers were running amok with their social accounts. Someone that is associated with the company, often not an entry level employee, wanted that horrible content posted on their personal accounts.

And this makes the PR statement by companies ridiculous. Employees do represent the company, therefore the inappropriate social post represents the company. You do business with people, not machines. Done and done. It is not just the owner/founder/CEO that represents the company. All employees do. And if your company wants someone to use their social accounts, they definitely do.

So public, please hold these companies and people accountable. Don’t just let them gloss over this as a PR issue and more training will fix it. Because it won’t.