By now many of you have heard about last week’s f-bomb deriding Detroit drivers in the errant Chrysler tweet. If you haven’t, here’s a good overview of the story from someone who inadvertently became part of it.

Of course, this isn’t the first and won’t be the last time a dumb mistake is amplified on Twitter.  I think we can learn three things from it:

  1. Social media is the intersection of the personal and professional (Joseph Jaffe). The lines between work and play are blurred and will continue to be. But one thing stays constant: good judgment.
  2. Employees: you need to figure out how much of your personality you can share and how it impacts the organization you work for. Yes, there’s freedom of expression, but there are also HR rules and policies that must be adhered to if you want to continue in your job. If that’s not good enough, you can always fly solo or become an entrepreneur. Businesses: please develop and share a social media policy so staff understand the boundaries and can exercise restraint when necessary.
  3. Everyone makes mistakes. But like traffic accidents a lot of public gaffes are preventable. Rather than running every red light, let’s try some defensive tweeting: stop, look, listen… and then tweet.  And maybe this is a bigger lesson that every personal gripe or frustration doesn’t need a public airing.

Now onto another question. Should the agency responsible have been fired? I think the client has good cause. Personally, I wish the agency would have owned up, taken responsibility and offered to resign first. That would have demonstrated ethics and courage and would have shown them to be a firm that stands for something.

I’m interested to hear what you think.

About Martin Waxman


Martin Waxman, MCM, is a digital communications strategist. He conducts AI research, leads digital and social media training workshops and speaks at events across North America. He's co-founder of two PR agencies, president of a consultancy and has worked in the industry for nearly 30 years. Martin is a LinkedIn Learning instructor, teaches digital strategy and social media at McMaster University, the Schulich School of Business, University of Toronto SCS and Seneca College. He's a member of the Institute for Public Relations Digital Media Research Center and a past-chair of PRSA Counselors Academy. He has a Master of Communications Management (MCM) from McMaster-Syracuse Universities.