
Be Careful What You Post on Twitter - jkopelman
http://shankman.com/be-careful-what-you-post/
======
rbanffy
What a massive inferiority complex!

One person does not like Memphis. A lot of people who live there do. How can
this be a problem?

A lot of people dislike the city I live in. I like it a lot. I see no reason
to dislike people who don't like my city.

As for the guy who was so offended, I would recommend the FedEx HR to look
into possible psychological help, if the employee is worth keeping.
Overreactions like this can happen in other more damaging circumstances.

~~~
tptacek
These people don't care if you say you don't like Memphis, but they do care if
their flacks do; Memphis is part of their identity. You're also allowed not to
like their logo, but you can't say that if you want to rep them.

~~~
pyre
That may be true, but he's not representing the City of Memphis. He's
representing the company of FedEx, which is _based_ in Memphis. If I made a
Twitter comment saying that I hated New York City, while I was head of a PR
firm for the New York Stock Exchange, I would not expect to get a similar
response.

> _many of my peers and I question the expense of paying Ketchum to produce
> the video open for today’s event; work that could have been achieved by
> internal, award-winning professionals with decades of experience in
> television production._

This seems more like the crux of the issue. Someone pissed off that the
company didn't use him or his working group and instead outsourced the work.

> _Not knowing exactly what prompted your comments, I will admit the area
> around our airport is a bit of an eyesore, not without crime, prostitution,
> commercial decay, and a few potholes._

He even admits that it's possible the @keyinfluencer had a bad experience with
the town. So @keyinfluencer's comment could have been totally acceptable
within the context of the experience that he had had with Memphis at the
point.

This whole 'response' comes off as a gross over-reaction. Much in the same
light as the guy that writes a 12-page essay in response to an off-hand
comment that there are 'many inconsistencies' in the Bible. The guy writes the
letter/essay not because it is justified, but because someone has hit a sore
spot and he feels a need to 'react' to what he views as some sort of
'transgression.'

In this case, I feel like the 'transgression' is probably not 'insulting my
city' so much as 'he took mah jerb!' But he couldn't outright say something
like, "this guy's an assclown and I don't like him," so he used this off-
handed comment as an excuse. Notice how he CC'd this to _all_ the FexEx upper-
ups. He clearly is trying to give them the impression that they need to drop
this 'outsourced' company and bring the work back in-house.

------
LogicHoleFlaw
_A hazard of social networking is people will read what you write._

Succinct and insightful.

~~~
jeremymcanally
_A hazard of socializing at all is people will read, listen to, or otherwise
consume what you say and do._

FTFY. I fail to see why people are freaking out about social networks all the
time. If I walked into my office and said "OMG I GOT DRUNK AND PUKED ON
DEBRA'S DESK LAST NIGHT LULLLLZ," people would get just as annoyed and
offended (and Debra just as repulsed) as if I'd said it on Twitter. It's not
hard: if you're going to say it, expect it to be heard. Period.

------
dmillar
This should go without saying. You should be careful of everything you put out
online. Blogs, Usenet posts, IRC, Twitter, Facebook, etc., etc.

~~~
cag_ii
This is nothing new, and I wonder why people think writing "online" excuses
being a jerk. People should apply the same rules as they would when talking to
someone in person.

I am willing to bet the twitter poster wouldn't walk into that conference that
morning and say to someone there: "I don't know how you could live here, I
sure couldn't!".

------
tptacek
Memphis is part of FedEx's identity. Moreso than, say, International Paper's
identity. This person works in communications. The fact that Ketchum had
staffed FedEx with what appears to be a moron is relevant to FedEx. I don't
think this is an overreaction.

------
SamAtt
I had a blog up until a couple years ago. But I eventually decided the
risk/reward equation was way out of whack. Especially given how easy it is to
offend some people.

That’s what it came down to for me. Every blog post became "is this worth
losing my job, friends, etc... over if I potentially offend someone?" Once I
determined the answer to that question was almost always no I decided to ditch
the blog.

(and it's also why I don't Tweet)

Hopefully FedEx has a management team that is understanding enough not to fire
this poor guy. Because a lot of companies are willing to cut someone loose at
the mere hint of controversy.

~~~
dustingetz
Fedex Management should fire the asshole who blew a tweet way out of
proportion, ignored his own company's leadership structure by directly
contacting his executives, and directly contacted a customer's leadership.

~~~
SamAtt
I'd agree but as the article points out people in memphis are very sensitive
about their town. If a decent sized boycott starts I'd bet this guy's job is
toast (especially in this economy)

The issue is whether the irrational people can make enough noise to cause him
trouble and whether that one tweet was worth the consequences it will bring to
him.

(see tptacek's response above where he completely agrees with the guy who made
this a big deal)

------
sixpoint8
People get offended way to easy and overreact.

People suck.

~~~
jharrison
Hey, I'm people. Sure, I'm a little round in the middle, I'm graying, and I
could stand to workout once in a while. I'm starting a program to revitalize
myself and fix those problems. Someone in your position as a person should
think twice about offending us...people.

~~~
sixpoint8
I see your point, although I include myself when I say "people suck".

------
bsgamble
This is a ten month old article and comments that robustly argued both sides
of the situation. How is this news, let alone hacker news?

~~~
SamAtt
Is "Because I'd never seen it and I found it interesting" an answer you'd
accept? (I'm not the one who posted it btw)

------
jongraehl
What a jerk (the person with the long overblown complaint letter, of course).

------
jrmurad
It's not difficult to squirm out of this particular case. " _I_ couldn't live
here." Such a statement imparts neither a positive nor negative reaction. It's
easy to turn around on the offended party: "Why would _you_ assume an
insult?". With Twitter's character limit, it's unwise to read to far into
something lacking much context.

~~~
cag_ii
He didn't say "I couldn't live here", he said "I would die if I had to live
here!" which I don't think can be considered a neutral statement.

Regarding the squirming, He'd likely be better off by apologizing for making a
stupid statement.

------
weegee
this illustrates the biggest problem with the culture in the USA today. people
are too god damn sensitive. people "get offended" by something as stupid as a
twitter post. twitter, good god! what is next???

