Social Media: Social Media Sobriety Tests for Employees?

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Corporations face new liability risks, and new sources of embarrassment, as they venture further and further onto the Internet. Consider how quickly an ordinary news event can create a PR nightmare through no fault of the company.

In 2012, after President Obama’s mention of his grandmother during a presidential debate, a KitchenAid Twitter team member posted on the company’s twitter account—directed to 24,000 followers—“Obamas gma even knew it was going 2 b bad! ‘She died 3 days b4 he became president.’” The company quickly deleted the tweet but not before it was picked up by USA Today and other major publications, and generated negative PR.