I saw the story Dave Henderson wrote about the Ketchum Advertising exec who used Twitter to express personal feelings about the City of Memphis as he was on his way to visit a large client, FedEx.
Henderson, and others, have been “bashing” this exec for his views while applauding FedEx employees for their response. The general feeling is that company exec needed to be more considerate of the the environment where their client live.
Jeremiah Owyang’s comments got it right – “he is allowed to think what he wants, and say what he wants” and that there is a need to be careful not to write what you won’t say face-to-face.
But, it also goes one step further: Twitter, and blogs, are “short media” options. A one line comment does not always tell the whole story. Looking from the outside, let’s remember to keep comments in context. The story needs to be understood before opinions become “facts.” Sometimes, the short media option may not be the best.
Filed under: Business Culture, Marketing, Miscellaneous
[...] to Jennifer Doctor (update: who calls for context of the situation) for spurring me along to comment on this [...]
The kicker here? Mr. Andrews’ tweet had nothing to do with Memphis, nothing to do with FedEx.
His comment was in reaction to a racial incident in which he was trashed. His reaction was honest and valid.
Yes, context can be missing or hazy on Twitter. That doesn’t mean people should jump to conclusions.
[...] to Jennifer Doctor (update: who calls for context of the situation) for spurring me along to comment on this [...]