Ouch!

Absolutely! I had a blog (anonymous) and got fired because of it. Caution is key.

Wow. Better be extremely careful what people post on Twitter. It is an open realm, with all messages saved, that can totally come to bite you from the behind in the near future. The law can now also reinforce email threats as very serious misdemeanors. Some joke in chat rooms about wanting to “blow things up,” or want “certain people to die,” which lead to jail time.

In this world, digital proof is stronger than any verbal statement. Be safe.

Ouch – that is great. People often forget who is reading what about them and I think they are trying to be funny,or strike a cord. Good for Fed Ex for confronting him. I had something similar happen when I was interviewed by the SF Chronicle and some “sales guy” at a big company sent the editor a very unflattering and sexist statement – from his work email. I emailed him back, oh and some other female managers in his company – he re-tracted AND sent an apology.

Oh, snap! That’s harsh. At least it was handled respectfully.

Anyone in PR who isn’t careful about twitter doesn’t deserve to be working there.

Don’t be stupid should really be the first rule of ANYTHING.

As an out of work editor/PR guy, it amazes me that retards such as this still have jobs. Your time will come.

Hi Peter,
Thanks for sharing this. It’s remarkable stuff, for the guy at Ketchum who wasn’t thinking and knew little about his audience, and from that articulate and effective communicator at FedEx who put the criticism in greater perspective!
Thank you again,
Michelle

The reputation cloud that you create for yourself using social media has a wider reach (and a longer memory) than any of us grew up with.

It pays to be careful and considerate, just like in “real life”.

Whoa – cutting illustration of why this is so important to remember!

Day-mn! Did dude at least get some A1 sauce to go with the foot in his mouth?

I guess he figured that no one in Memphis was smart enough or hip enough to be on Twitter. How condescending!

The good news is that Mr. Andrews will probably never have to go to Memphis again. Good for him, but especially for everyone in Memphis.

Double ouch!

What would you have paid to see Mr. Andrews face upon learning this news?! Great find and excellent point with this post!

Wow! That just about dropped my jaw. Nicely written riposte on Fedex’s part.

Not a great way to convert social media shy executives. I’m sure he probably meant no harm, very unfortunate.

Well, if his seminar on Social Media is a success, his pupils can read all about him insulting their city on his Twitter account.

That’s quite painful. How can you be so oblivious. He probably drives around n the sunshine with his headlights and wipers on too.

Jeesh

Maybe rather than “Be careful what you post” (which is a good policy to follow anyway), how about just using some common sense and not using a public place to say mean things about people, places, events, etc?

I know we’re a nation of negative people who seem to like bad news, bad things to happen to others and all that. I’d just like to see us turn that around and try to look for the good and be a bit more positive instead of trying to tear everything and everyone down.

Call me naive and silly, but it does work.

Hi, Peter. I agree that this is a good reminder to be careful of what you say in social media. It’s an even better reminder to mind your manners in public. Just because we CAN say anything doesn’t mean we SHOULD.

Peter,

I think the first time I heard you speak you warned us about this very issue: With the proliferation of social media, NOTHING stays a secret anymore. You’d think Ketchum would know better. Maybe they should cover appropriate social media behavior.

Rule #1: Don’t talk bad about clients … or client locations.
Rule #2: If you wouldn’t say it to someone’s face, maybe you shouldn’t say it at all!
Rule #3: Be smart. (Or at least be smarter than this!)

Yikes!! Thanks for sharing — it’s a good reminder for all of us!

Heather (@prtini)

Peter, I think the first time I heard you speak, you warned us of this very issue. With the proliferation of social media, NOTHING stays a secret anymore. You’d think Ketchum would know better. Maybe they should explain appropriate social media behavior.

Rule #1: Don’t talk bad about clients … or things important to clients. (Like where they live!)
Rule #2: If you wouldn’t say it to someone’s face, maybe you shouldn’t tweet/blog/etc it either.
Rule #3: Be smart. Or at least smarter than this.

Thanks for sharing. It’s a good reminder for all of us!

Heather (@prtini)

“I don’t see much relevance between your presentation this morning and the work we do in Employee Communications.” – Now that’s the zinger.

Hopefully they don’t lose the client over this. A lesson to be learned for all PR pros.

I guess it is that old adage – if you can’t say something nice, don’t say it at all. And definitely don’t Tweet it. I can see this being a future case study for a PR 101 class. At a minimum, this should be a Client Services 101 example.

Like I tell my students, “Loose quips (tweets) sink ships.” Great article, thanks for sharing a very valuable lesson.

To be honest, Peter, I’m shocked that a VP at Ketchum didn’t know better.

Holy hot sauce, Batman!
@PRsarahevans

Never say anything on-line that you wouldn’t want your mother — or your client — to see.

I’m very surprised that someone of that level (to be speaking at FedEx corp) would make this mistake. Just goes to show we can all be more careful!

Crikey, that`s a mighty stinger in the bum! He event went as far as to somewhat “agree” with Mr. Andrews. Not necessary, but truly a sign of grace under fire.

Hard lesson to learn.

I have been to Memphis and I come from NY. I have the following to say.

Andrews was absolutely right! I don’t care how proud you are Mr. Fed Ex., if you all had so much pride, the city never would have looked like that to begin with. Memphis may ( and hopefully will) rise again, till it does anybody with a half a brain would wonder why one would live in such a crime infested stench. Maybe the letter writer ought to apologize to Andrews for the city’s condition and enlist Ketchum’s help in changing the “song on the radio.” Additionally, while Andrews was probably being funny and also not thinking about the possible “Feelings” of the audience, He was also honest. I have one question. Will you be this honest everytime you have something to say, or are you only honest when you think you are not being watched. If it is the former, I would want you to work for me. Obviously this Fed Ex guy doesn’t have the guts Mr. Smith had. You don’t build Fed Ex by surrounding yourself with eager beavers who spend their time telling you what you want to hear. As for your “Mothers warning about only saying nice things” If I can’t trust you to tell me the truth about what is plain before your eyes how can I trust you to tell me the truth about the things I cannot see.
Mom is right if you are talking about the pastor’s daughter. She is not right if she is talking about consultants and what they are consulting about.

Secondly get a freaking sense of humor cupcake! Hell you think you have it bad? Try being the mayor of Newark NJ. He too is trying to turn things around. Newark is still a hellhole but he is making progress. For G-d’s sake all of NJ and parts of NYC are constantly the butt of jokes. (Even David Letterman makes fun of NYC and NJ and he lives around here.) Part of fixing the problem is admitting there is a problem and working on it. If you want your vendors to be deaf blind and dumb, well then you will get exactly that, and you will have learned nothing.

As for the other things you mention about Fed Ex employees, I think they are great. There seems to be a great team built and civic pride (as long as it is realistic and not Jingoistic) is a great thing to have. Nevertheless, if you are having to take paycuts to keep employed, then you need outside consultants to help you see the things you aren’t seeing. Smith and Fed-Ex’s millions I assume are being spent to get quality evaluations and help, not to blow smoke up the ass of some p.o.’d mid level executive who is small minded enough to be afraid that a twitter tweet may knock a few thousand dollars off his property value. Further seeing you had all this time to send out this e-mail, I wonder what you did today to produce an extra profit for your company. Save the brown nosing for your run for city council. If I were a stockholder, I would want to see your worksheets.

By the way Mr. Fed Ex, tattle-taling is an ugly world, the threat to someone’s lively hood is a door that swings BOTH ways.I will be signing up for Andrews tweets right now. I will also be reconsidering if FED Ex is the best way to send my overnight mail.

Anthony J. Colleluori
AKA That Lawyer Dude
A Fed-Ex (Ex?)Customer

Just one more example of how important it is to keep in mind who is in each of your social networks. And on Twitter, the whole world is in your network. Dole out your comments accordingly and save your scathing personal observations for release only within a network of trusted friends. Facebook, perhaps? Unless of course you’ve invited the world in there too ; – )

I agree Shel Holtz and am also surprised he didn’t know better.

I’d also question his “True confession but” statement – doesn’t saying “but” mean that he’s negating what he’s about to say? Maybe he was telling stories afterall and he really loves Memphis, *but*, I doubt that ;)

tee hee.

Give me a break – he doesn’t like Memphis. The response lacks manners, sensitivity and general respect for another, a person who simply has tastes and sensibilities of his own. Pardon me, but to use a teacherism, “was this reporting or tattling?”

Thanks for sharing. I always coach new hires: if you don’t want it to end up on the front page of a major newspaper, don’t put it in email, IM or online. Another classic example!

Long ago I learned emails, Tweets, are not “Dear Diary.”

I learned this while participating in a women’s so-called “spiritual” group on-line.

Some of the women were nasty and underhanded beyond the pale. However, the lesson I learned (quickly) was how many people are simply prone to back-biting, constructing fake IDs and sending out emails from these newly created ID’s – never mind investing in extreme amounts of passive aggressive behavior.

This happened over ten years ago and actually, I was grateful for the education.
Up until then I hadn’t quite realized how many people like that were out there.

Oh yes, the biggest “flamers” (I’m dating myself now) were from the South.

I’m always impressed by the comments by the social media “experts” at some of the big firms like Ketchum and Edelman. It seems they forget the concepts of “social” and “public” on the Internet. Some people only open their mouth to change feet, but I’ll give him the benefit of doubt that this was truly an “Oops, was that my outside of my head voice” moment, but I doubt the employees of the FedEx communications department will be as forgiving.

Bill Green/ @bill_green

@That Lawyer Dude – you’re missing the point. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you — especially in agency PR. Whether he meant it as a joke is irrelevant, it wasn’t interpreted that way.

Yikes. This is so basic that you’d think someone who’s supposed to be knowledgable about social media would have picked up on it. Duh.

@V A – Yeah, he’s expressing an opinion, but that’s not a comment he’d make in a f2f client meeting with FedEx, right? Why should Twitter be any different, with its audience of millions??

Well, I’m no fan of Memphis either … BUT … anyone who is so full of himself as to make his Twitter handle “keyinfluencer” is clearly enough of a d-bag to say something rude about a client’s city in public.

It’s like what I’m always telling my daughters–don’t say on AIM, IM, text or in email–and now on Twitter, Facebook or MySpace–what you wouldn’t say to someone’s face.

Leah Ingram
http://suddenlyfrugal.wordpress.com

I agree with that lawyer dude!
OK, yes, perhaps it was a bit uncouth to slam the city your client lives in, but for heavens sake, no one is allowed to have an opinion anymore?
The other thing to take into consideration is that when you only have 140 characters to say something, the niceties do tend to get truncated.

We spend much of our time talking about the benefits of social media. Here’s an example of the pitfalls. I have a feeling that this could be a costly tweet.

“the kicker is that they copied the FedEx Coporate Vice President, Vice President, Directors and all management of FedEx’s communication department AND the chain of command at Ketchum”

Are kidding me? Was it really necessary to involve all these other people? This is ridiculous. I feel like this guy already had a bone to pick and then saw the post. The Fedex guy even admits his city isn’t great right now. I agree that you have to be careful what you post; because you’ll encounter people like this Fedex guy who will overreact.

I have sat here and read the article and read all of the posts. That Lawyer Guy’s post made me angry because I think he missed the point, but after reading it all it made me fearful of even posting a comment myself!

As everyone has said…if you don’t want it to bite you…don’t write it and put it out to the world. But then, even if you have what you consider a “good” thought it may still be offensive to someone and then you are attacked. This REALLY made me think hard about our global community and how important thoughtful & kind communication is.

One final comment…I LOVE Memphis. It is one of my favorite places to visit…warts and all. Anytime I can book an art show there I take the opportunity. No city is perfect and when you have had as many ups and downs as Memphis has had there will be warts. The people are wonderful and the history is rich. I say this after spending my last visit staying at a hotel within throwing distance to a runway at the airport.

I think this is a good example of the old “you can’t please everyone” adage. I agree that the ‘watch what you write’ is and always will be, a good lesson (be it over email or on social network sites). However, I’m sure Andrews didn’t realize the implications of his statement (very rarely do large quantities of people get offended over a comment about the city they live in). Bottom line – I don’t think he meant anything by it, but being a publicist, he probably should have known better (always spin it positive, Mr. Andrews!)

Wow.

Great example of how what you say on social media, especially if you have cultivated a large following, can take on a life of its own… for better or for worse.

he sure hit a spot. I do feel for him, though – a lot of us have made similar mistakes, especially those of us in careers that allow for a lot of individuality.

Oh, that poor man. Hope he finds a little solace in knowing that he helped to reiterate a valuable lesson. Memphis rocks! FedEx rocks by association to this letter writer. Thanks for the GREAT post! We’re just diving into social media as a company and I’ll consider this a good reference for me team. ~ Heather

http://www.renewablechoice.com

Look, I don’t like Twitter in general and I don’t care for the pretentious fops who flatter themselves that everyone cares what they’re doing every nanosecond. I also use to work for a PR company and know the type – dudes who generate a lot of blah blah blah and tweet about their location to show what movers-and-shakers they are. When I’m not vomiting, I’m yawning.

But please, the FedEx response was SUCH a humorless overreaction, and managed to make me actually feel sorry for the very sort of person I usually loathe. So Memphis is an armpit – aw. So you’re working on it – yay! So you’re having paycuts – bummer. So you have an issue with the quality of the service you’re receiving from Ketchum – address that and just that because you have a right to. But don’t conflate all of those issues and lay your baggage on someone else’s doorstep without getting a few therapy sessions first.

After all, it ain’t like he tweeted “FedEx is run by humorless, oversensitive poops who make mountains out of molehills.” But maybe that’s his next one.

Don’t we all have a place we’d hate to live? Sometimes you live in a place you love. Sometimes you’d like to live anywhere but here. Is this really THAT big a deal?

Memphis is a town with deep culture and wonderful history. It’s current state is… well, in need of improvement (how was that?). Crucify a guy for saying so? And really, he didn’t even say that. He just said he did not want to live there.

I’m sure many a person has landed at JFK or LGA and said, “I’d hate to live here.” And who would be up in arms over that comment? Pretty much no one.

I certainly agree that you’ve got to remember that anything you post/write/blog/tweet these days could end up in places you would never imagine. Also not a great idea to insult your host city when you are arriving to make a sales pitch. However, in large part I have to agree with and second what “That Lawyer Dude”, AKA Anthony J. Colleluori wrote. He wrote what I was thinking, only did a better job.

Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?

Personally, I think the FedEx guy who took umbrage completely overreacted. I’m from Philly and people mock my city all the time. Big deal. Get over it. To go and tattle on this guy to his bosses is commensurate to telling your 2nd grade teacher that little Johnny said a bad word. Really, how petty and immature. Shame on the FedExer.

Also, was this FedEx guy stalking Andrews online? How else did he come across his Twitter message? How creepy.

That Lawyer Dude aptly demonstrated why he’s a lawyer and not in PR. Also, that he’s from New York, the center of the universe and which no one, nohow would ever think is a “crime infested stench.”

V A , in what way does “I would die if I had to live here” — written by the Social Media Expert Guy Fed Ex Pays a Lot of Money For — demonstrate “manners, sensitivity and general respect?”

This brought back a memory from a long time ago when things were done by hand and in newspapers. An illustrator did a full page piece of art for an account. The drawing was complex and full of detail, sort of a Where’s Waldo. He thought it would be funny to put in a few people in various sexual acts knowing they would go unnoticed. Yeah, right. By by client.

Excellent response to the bad mouthing by that ad guy! I especially like their comment about how they could produce better communications work than the agency. Not surprising at all. My past experience has shown the same to be true. Also, just watch the large number of absolutely moronic television commercials – especially while watching sports – produced by these so called creative agency types at great expense. They’re trying hard to lower the bar……

It’s scary when you think about every single thing you say on Twitter, or on your blog, or on Facebook, and how sometimes the most irrelevant of things can be found and used against you. It just shows that you definitely need to think twice before sharing anything.

Ouch…

Surveying a variety of tweets, here’s a suggested list of words that aren’t synonymous with “tweet about” that he should have read beforehand.

Oh GROW A PAIR already! The Ketchum dude gave his Tweets a simple shout-out about Memphis sucking; the FedEx punk is the one who went over the line and made it personal/public (and unprofessional) … there’s a time for self-censorship (duh!~) and the rest is about keeping it real. Peace.

I think Mr. Andrews simply didn’t take into consideration the immense pride of the FedEx family. He was seeing Memphis as, well, Memphis. He wasn’t seeing it as “Memphis – home to thousands of employees who work for the company that pays my company millions of dollars and who call this place home.”

There’s a time to say what you think, and there’s a time to think about what you want to say.

Peter used the right word when he said “feircely.” I worked at FedEx for three years and saw some fierce loyalty. On a FedEx flight from Providence to Memphis one night, the co-pilot took out a picture of Fred Smith (it was laminated) and tucked it under the corner of a display screen. I asked what Fred was doing on the flight and got “He brings us good luck” as my answer. This happened on more than one occasion.

I’m really more annoyed at FedEx in this instance than I am at the Ketchum guy. He made a comment about a city he didn’t enjoy. I’m sure many of the people that work at FedEx probably wouldn’t enjoy New York and would make comments about it. SO WHAT??? It’s time for adults to start being adults and paying attention to things that matter. If FedEx didn’t think he had something of value to say, they shouldn’t have brought him out there (at, I’m sure, considerable expense). No one was holding a gun to their head. If I were Ketchum, I don’t know that I would want to work with FedEx after this. It makes them seem like a very pain-in-the-ass client to have. They should have just let it go altogether and moved onto things that actually matter.

Wow – that’s gotta hurt…

Amen, That Lawyer Dude

I’m a fan of Memphis, would even consider some day relocating there from NYC, but give me a fucking break. Dude is thin-skinned homer that clearly needs to reexamine his priorities.

Keep swinging Andrew!

This tweet is far more tame than what most people actually think about. Someday a device will be invented in which all thoughts will be public and I wonder what that will bring.

I would also agree that this got blown waaaay out of proportion. Was the man tweeting personally or with a professional name? What? I can’t have personal thoughts/observances EVER that are NOT connected to my job? NOT the way I want to live. Grow a pair- yes!

Ouch! Snap!

But seriously. Now I’m going to have to go to Memphis and see for myself.

Did FedEx sack the employee who said Memphis is full of crime, prostitution, decay, and potholes? Or do they only burn outsiders at the stake?

Very appropriate, someone once compared what you say on the internet to writing things on a billboard on the side of the highway. You think people don’t notice it, but they do.

Mark Hughes: Read the letter again. It doesn’t state that Memphis is full of all that, just “I will admit the area around our airport is a bit of an eyesore, not without crime, prostitution, commercial decay, and a few potholes.”

Everyone makes mistakes. Whether or not the Ketchum VP was accurate or not does not matter. It was done in poor judgment, and there are some bridges he needs to mend.

It’s just another example that self-censorship is likely the most under-appreciated asset for anyone active online.
-Mike

Peter,

This reminds me of a time one of my colleagues at a former employer “bad mouthed” our client after a conference call with that client. He didn’t realize that the call had not disconnected yet and the client heard his remarks. We didn’t get fired, but we didn’t get another major project, either.
It’s been said before and I’ve taken it to heart: NEVER speak ill of a client or something that may be sensitive to your client! Not to other clients, not to your co-workers, not to anyone…I believe it’s something about biting the hand that feeds you!

Lawyer Dude, don’t be such a … lawyer! You are ruder than that cad from Ketchum, and I feel pretty certain that Memphis is not a “crime infested stench” as you say. That Ketchum VP made a totally unwarranted snarky remark after being PAID by his biggest client to travel to their headquarters. Mister Ketchum should show the utmost respect for every aspect of his client’s business, including their “second-tier city” headquarters environment. I vote for Ketchum to fire this guy and make an example of him. He definitely doesn’t deserve to stay on the FedEx account.

The Ketchum guy is from where? And how much of a cultural shock would Memphis be?
Beyond poorly-develped areas close to the airport, I’m sure it’s a slower-paced environment to begin with, which could inspire such a comment.
But I can’t imagine it was an attack on the city. It was more of an observation.

This was a very carefully crafted PR stunt, people. Killa results.

>> #6 tyler hurst on 15, Jan, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Anyone in PR who isn’t careful about twitter doesn’t deserve to be working there. Don’t be stupid should really be the first rule of ANYTHING. As an out of work editor/PR guy, it amazes me that retards such as this still have jobs. Your time will come. <<<

Wow, Tyler. How is calling people “retards” any different than what this person put on Twitter? You’d better check yourself before lashing out at others, kiddo. Maybe that’s the reason you’re out of work. Or maybe it’s because you don’t know how to hyphenate compound adjectives, even though you claim to be an editor.

I bet this hasn’t done much to change keyinfluencer’s opinion of Memphis.

Is that it? Really?! Have you people BEEN to Memphis? Dude was bein’ KIND!

i’m not sure how successful the results are – really it just made Ketchum look like an ass and Memphis sounds like a shithole. I’d buy that it was a stunt, though – the “True confession but” part seemed really contrived unless keyinfluencer is really that arrogant.

anyway, here are my two cents: yes, we can say/think whatever we want. but i suggest to all marketing/pr professionals that you have multiple accounts, particularly on Twitter – one public handle that your colleagues, clients, cousins and the world can follow; one private account that is protected and carefully disguised so you can vent to your inner circle.

I agree with Shel. He should have known better. I’m also kind of saddened that a VP at Ketchum would have the Twitter user name “keyinfluencer.” Tacky, tacky, tacky.

I agree with both sides, weasels like that guy at FedEx are the reason you need to be tight lipped. To me it looks like the guy had an ulterior motive. First he repeatedly ass-kisses his boss, then mentions that the communications department can do their own videos. Then he says he doesn’t see how the guy’s presentation was all that great to begin with. So, in short he’s trying to redirect outside work to in-house and make himself look like super-employee.

The letter is not clever, it is not sophisticated, it just sounds like the guy is a brown-nosing snake. This could very well turn around on him if he wasn’t authorized to speak for the company, not to mention that he back-handedly questioned his higher-ups’ judgment in hiring Ketchum in the first place, this embarrassing “tweet” notwithstanding.

Working in PR at the cusp of the social media “age” (if you will), has taught me that there are two kinds of people in PR: Those who relish their jobs and are bold and outspoken thinkers; and those who are in fear and loathing because they’re going to LOSE their jobs. The latter category are the types who still write with pencils and use red pens to mark up copy on paper.

One guy I encountered from the red-ink-and-paper set was seriously freaked out that I was hired to steal his job writing meaningless copy for traditional media that nobody will read. Like I care about what he does for a living. I just had to explain to him that I was only hired to help him do his job better so he can get a raise and keep his kid in school and a roof over his head.

Stop fearing social media, people. And stop fretting about gaffes like this. Yes, Andrews was stupid for saying this. But have you noticed these days that stuff like this gets remembered for, what, 2 seconds and people move on?

Indeed, I echo the refrain, Grow A Pair.

As a Memphis native, I can honestly say I love my city. But sometimes I truly don’t like it and can understand why others despise it.

FedEx is its economic engine. The city wouldn’t survive without it.

The idea is that the client wants and deserves loyalty. Whether you dislike the city where their based is irrelevant. Andrews took a “personal point of privilege” being vested in the client by using social media to express his dislike with no harm intended or aftermath expected.

But as “influencers” what we say, especially via social media, carries a lot of weight. The more people agree in dislike, the more it effects the city’s ability to grow and allow client to impact its bottom line.

Although I doubt a Twitter post is going to shake FedEx or break Ketchum, the circumstances could make us select 140 characters carefully.

@urbaneimagery

Wow…if I were Mr. Andrews, I would be looking for a hole to crawl into…

Since Mr. Andrews was on a business trip, he was acting as a representative of his agency. Clearly, he did not follow the PRSA Code of Ethics, http://www.prsa.org/aboutUs/et.....le_en.html, which demands that a PR professional be accountable for his or her actions and act in a manner that shows loyalty to the client. Additionally, the PR professional is called to be honest, but that counsel should take place privately with the client.

Mr. Andrews also demonstrated a lapse in client relations, which is: Understand the client and the client’s sensitivities.

FYI, the FedEx employee in question is in their corporate communications department, which very likely monitors what people are saying about FedEx as a part of their PR duties–nothing strange or creepy about that.

Given the fact that millions of dollars are involved, Mr. Andrews did himself and his employer a disservice by placing the client in a totally defensive posture. And as for humor, if BOTH parties cannot get joy from it, then it’s probably not that funny.

I just posted an article about this type of thing. By the way, the webcast tonight was FANTASTIC! WayneSutton.tv was great. Thank you!

Hi again Peter,

I got in on this early and have been following since. The more I listen here, what I think is missing may be consideration for the relationship.

The point is not that @keyinfluencer is or is not within his rights to express himself. He made a comment in a public place that was thoughtless and was taken as a discourtesy. If you value a relationship, courtesy is expected.

The reaction (and the reach of the reaction) within FedEx may indicate that this relationship was already in trouble. Their response is now public and doing further damage.

We all talk about trust and relationships being the aim of social media. I think the lesson is be yourself, but exercise self restraint. Be thoughful and courteous to demonstrate your care and respect for others. Respect is hard earned and should be valued.

James Andrews? Definitely not a key influencer. Behavior unbecoming.

Oh good lord, “PR Guy”. Deflate your head. If you can’t understand the benefits and limitations of both social media and traditional media, both tweeting and pencils, then you probably should have listened to the red-ink-and-paper guy more. He was probably trying to teach you something. Sometimes the “bold and outspoken” would do well to hush up and listen to the “quiet and smarter.”

Nigga got pwn3d!

Owwwww…. thanks for that VERY important reminder.

To wit… “Gunman Robs English Class at College in Memphis”

http://chronicle.com/news/arti....._medium=en

Who’s interested in applying for the new Ketchum VP slot that will be open later today??? Perks include flying to Memphis and cleaning up a mess.

So true. Never say anything publicly that you wouldn’t say to the person’s face who your are dis’ing. It’s just bad form.

As a professor of media studies and the director of our internship program, I try to teach students that social media is not like talking to your friends (even though they think it is). But telling and showing are two different things. Thank you for an excellent example.

In today’s day and age, it’s so vitally important that people watch what they say and write, regardless of the forum. As we advise our clients, the interview is never over. Things that were assumed off the record have all too often ended up in bold print, spokespeople victims of “gotcha” journalism. With social media platforms open for any and everyone to see, it’s all the more important that people mind themselves as you never know who is listening, watching or reading.

Very nice article and….unfortunately very true. People forget sometimes that clients/prospects might be reading tweets too. If you are cheeky to a colleague/industry peer, that might be ok if you know that person. But even then, you would not be rude or anything.

However, slacking off a clients’ environment or pride might be quite bad. As Mara said, people forget they are NOT sending a text message and that anything they say can be taken in a wrong way.

Cheers
Volker

I won’t dare judge either party on their opinions and actions. But true, we must all be cognizant of what we write on the Internet. Once it’s written, it’s there for good. As long as we’re aware of that fact, then we can stand at our own defense.

I wrote a little about that a couple of weeks ago: http://blog.keithparnell.com/i.....nd-online/

Keith Parnell
twitter.com/parnellk63

Unfortunately, Twitter is a great stream for the sub-conscious. You like to tweet what you are thinking, your opinions on articles and ideas, etc. IT’S ALL SUBJECTIVE. Someone will get hurt.

Social= Humanness

Interesting to note that Andrews has his name splashed everywhere, but we never know the identity of the person sending the shaming email. It’s only fair to note ALL of the players in this story. Peter, please include the email author. If he or she is going to slam someone they should have their name noted as well.

Lawyer Dude: It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it — and today, it’s where you say it. Ketchum criticized the city the wrong way – without empathy. FedX guy did it the right way, with feeling. If you follow that rule, you can be honest but kind. But the most amazing thing to me about this incident is the number of comments! A tribute to Peter.

What a great listen – and such a horrible way to learn it. You just can’t be too careful these days.

“stuck inside of memphis with those new york blues again.” didn’t dylan sing that?

funny post, peter. not so funny for the ketchum guy. but I find the whole “social media ‘expert’ gets burned by social media” meme wonderfully ironic.

fyi, you are now marginally more famous: http://blogs.computerworld.com.....ter_tricks

cheers,

dt

Regardless of if you think FedEx overreacted or not, Andrews was being dumb. He should keep comments like that to himself about ANY city. Of course it’s going to bother some potential customers.

Plus, how can he do a good job of helping a company that has strong ties to their city, if he straight up hates the city? It just gives a bad impression.

The lesson is “be careful what you say in social media, because no matter what, we live in a hypersensitive society where people are just looking for any reason to be offended and make a huge deal about nothing.”
The PR guy was dumb not to know this rule, and the Fed Ex clown is a prime example of a hypersensitive baby just looking for attention. Fault lies on both sides.

I too had a similiar experience that thankfully ddn’t involve me. A freelance reporter who did a lot of work with the New York Times didn’t like what one of my political clients said on a television segment and sent him an extremely unprofessional, not to mention inappropriate (this means lots of four letter words) message through Facebook. With the magic of a screen grab, and the various tools we all use as PR professionals, it was in his editor’s inbox moments later. The next day, I receive a very apologetic email from an editor at the NYT and was told that particular reporter as no longer associated with the New York Times.

Sounds to me like someone was a bit twitchy in the morning. Just because he wouldn’t ever want to live there, doesn’t mean he was speaking ill of the city. Perhaps he is more accustomed to better cab service, or finer delis. To blame a company for a persons… personal opinion is insane. The only difference between today and yesterday is that 1 more person has declared this dislike for Memphis. I am sure there are plenty of other people who would agree with this man, even people from Memphis. To slight his company based on a Twitter post that in no way directly implicated that he didn’t like Memphis? Insane. Had the tweet read “Memphis, home of FedEx, is a dump and I would kill myself if I lived here” I could see getting upset about it.

This is a great post. As communicators continue to advocate open, honest communication between companies and customers, they need to be reminded that there is really no place to hide. The Ketchum guy just discovered what the nude eBay seller who took pictures of reflective objects and then posted them felt like.

Whaaaaa… Someone said something mean about my city… Whaaaaaa…

CRY BABIES!

Yikes! I bet he’ll think twice now before twittering! The whole world is always listening!

There’s clearly more here to the context than has been presented. The original tweet — and read it again: “True confession but I’m in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say ‘I would die if I had to live here!’” — doesn’t even mention Memphis or FedEx. I, for one, would never have given a second thought to Memphis’s shit-hole-ness if Snarky McFedEx hadn’t cc’d the whole goddamn world.

In my opinion, James Andrews, as a PR professional, found himself in a grey area, went for the cheap laugh, and failed. And in my opinion, Snarky McFedEx stumbled right back into the quicksand by his/her inappropriate chain-of-command bitch fit, creating a worse impression (to my mind) of FedEx than anything Andrews tweeted.

I encourage everyone to watch the PBS special “The Advent of Money” with professor Niall Ferguson. He uses Memphis as an example and its extraordinarily high rate of bankruptcies per capita.

oops, my bad…PBS special is called “The Ascent of Money.”

It was “stuck inside of Mobile with Memphis blues again”…

Mountain out of a molehill, IMO.

Good catch though Peter =)

At the same time that yes we need to be careful what we write and say, you should also learn to either don’t become friends with co-workers on these social networking, or restrict them to access certain information on your profile, you can do that. As for Twitter, that head executive had to have been “following” him in order to see him profile or knew of his url, which if he was on his list of followers, he’s an idiot for not checking to see who is on his list of recievers, otherwise, that is something i don’t like about twitter is that you should be able to “accept” like a friend request who follows you….this guy probably meant no harm and we’ve ALL said “oh i could never live there, its just not me” in our lifetime. I hope that at least half of these people that are commenting on this article know what twitter is and how it works before you call the guy an idiot. These social networking sites are made to let us express who we are, there are restrictions on them. I agree that he should have kept himself in check, but def keep your co-workers and companies at bay when befriending people on social networks, perhaps till you’ve left the company…

I might be in the minority here but I think people need to lighten up about where they live. It’s not like Mr. Andrews said Memphis is a stinkhole, he made quite a mellow albeit ignorant remark. I live in Memphis, love my job, colleagues and friends, but don’t really like the city, at all, and everyone knows it. I don’t feel like that’s a conflict of interest nor should anyone take offense as it’s my preference and opinion that deserves some respect or at least benefit of the doubt. I think FedEx overreacted. But then I guess that’s the real warning here, beware of making provocative comments that may attain an undeserved overreaction.

wow. this isn’t @keyinfluencer’s mistake. it’s a ridiculous overreaction that was then shared with execs making a splash for what should have been a non-issue. People who live in small cities are always trying to prove something. They exhibit irrational pride for their little slice of nowhere. Seriously. Who cares? If James said he would die if he had to live in LA, no client would even take notice. Of if they did notice they certainly wouldn’t care. They definitely wouldn’t ship it to a gaggle of senior leaders at both companies. But talk about Memphis…..and it’s ON. Give me a break people. Lighten up.

The only relevant factor for Fedex should be Ketchum’s performance, not how the firm or any of it’s employees feel about the company’s unusual location.

I don’t understand why would anyone think that social networks, blogs, websites provide any kind of privacy? And twitter – I had recently received a thank you note from a store that I mentioned in a post (in a good way) … Anything written and saved can come back and bite you … so maybe people should not post things they are not willing for the whole world to see.

Fun to read you as always, Peter ;)

i feel sorry for all of you corporate whores who have to put up with this stuff

I actually think this has been totally blown out of proportion and that the author of the letter was quite unprofessional in his reaction. In my experience, I’ve run into way too many people who are email trigger happy and will send shocking notes out cc’ing the world and all of their bosses to make one person look like a total idiot. I think it makes the person writing the email look very unprofessional and ill-equip to manage issues and, for that matter, people. Careful he doesn’t even make a stupid mistake. The best course of action would have been to pull the guy aside and express it directly or discuss any management issues with that person’s boss. I hope he doesn’t live in a glass house because I’m sure it’ll come back and bite him.

One thing I’ve learn from the military. People just can’t stop talking until they’ve made and ass out of themselves. True fact.

I attended his conference Thursday via the web — I have to say, this certainly puts a different slant on the view he shared.

Coincidently, I was passing through a similarly devastated area of the town I was driving through yesterday. I did not think like Mr Ketchum did, but was saddened by the lost potential in the neighbourhood and could see how beautiful it could be if restored to its original state. Same view. Very different perspective.

All in all, the guy said something about Memphis, not something about Fedex or whoever he was visiting there. I can understand if he had said something negative about Fedex, but he said something about the city. Over reaction? Yeah.

Should the guy had been more careful? Probably.

Seriously, are we all kids in a playground or what? I agree with Lisa. This all could have been handled privately without involving the entire companies.

All of us could say the same things about any city in the world. Big deal.

But he’s right!

Excuse the veteran reporter in me but i’m with sue (comment #104) Where is the name of the alleged author of this withering email? No accountability, no viability. Suddenly we’re all taking this story as fact when no fact has been presented?

Someone else said the email author was in the communications department — how did that fact get into the wild.

Great point about being aware of what you post in SM. But at the same time, a painful overreaction. And gang mentality on blog comment sections ahoy!
It was a mistake in context. You make them, too.

In response to comment #6 by Tyler Hurst – Perhaps you should take your own advice…I’m shocked that people in this day and age still think it’s ok to call other people ‘retards’.

It seems that if you do work for FedEx they get to dictate what you think and say about Memphis. They must pay a lot then…

All I can think is that if people are so defensive about Memphis there must be something about his tweet. Must be a real hellhole.

@robert zimmerman: in a word, duh.

@matt kelly: are you sure that show wasn’t called “the ass-end of money”?

@geek turned musician: if I’m a corporate whore, then I’m asking for a raise.

@ everyone else: the point isn’t whether memphis is or isn’t a pit, fedex is or isn’t overly sensitive, or andrews has the right to tweet whatever he feels like. the man came to teach fedex about social media and never once thought that somebody there might be following him. that’s why he needs to find a new line of work.

cheers,

dt

@dantynan: EXACTLY. The value of his presentation is greatly lessened in my eyes, because he’s proven he has no idea what he’s talking about.

You folks defending Andrews’ actions and saying the FedEx response is overkill are missing the points:

- Andrews isn’t some clueless underling, he’s a VP and was in town to lecture FedEx about how to use social media for marketing and PR.
- The FedEx response didn’t take this issue public. Andrews’ denigrating broadcast to his thousand twitter followers did.

In the end, this is all about a business’s relationship with its clients. Andrews’ message may have been off the cuff or unintentionally insulting, but it was insulting. And FedEx has every right to take insult and leverage the discriminating use of their PR budget to make their feelings clear.

Not all bad news for Ketchum…We now know…
1) FedEx employees took a pay cut (accomplished objective: don’t balk at the the cost of shipping goods because they’re doing everything they can to cut costs)
2) FedEx is making huge strides to improve the city of Memphis (accomplished objective: watch out City of Memphis, treat us kindly and don’t bite the hand that feeds you.)
3) Mr. Smith is one of the best all times businessmen in the US (accomplished objective: reporters need to revisit the contributions of this man to Memphis)

PS: I lived in Memphis for nearly fours years. The city is about the people and they are the best. Not the smartest approach to using Twitter, but FedEx corp comm did respond in a manner that helped FedEx use its PR agency to get some key messages/initiatives out. Not bad for an old school company!

I just had a conversation about stuff like this yesterday, that can be summed up as, “In today’s world, be extra careful about what you say or do. You can’t ever afford to piss anybody off.”

keyinfluencer’s response

http://www.thekeyinfluencer.co.....situation/

Anyone notice that the next day, he had posted this:

“Having a great day with my new friends at #Fedex”

One of my beefs with electronic communication is how easily we all overreact to things and then immediately vilify somebody for it. So what? Somebody took a dump on your town. That’s the oldest insult in the book. We should all have thick skin for that one by now. There are a million places where every single one of us would “die” if we had to live there. We all have our own tastes, freedoms and choices. I respect anybody who uses them sans harm, violence or prejudice. Specific to his comments there are sections of my neighborhood, one that I love, where I would “die” if I had to live there. There is nothing wrong with having and expressing those feelings/opinions. Tina Fey taught most of us a great lesson this past Sunday at the Golden Globes by expressing two simple words towards people who we disagree with and then immediately moving on. “Suck it!”

Have you stopped to think of how all of this chatter erupted over a 140 character or less tweet? Was Andrews speaking about the entire city, a neighborhood… How can any of you, or Fed Exers for that matter, know?

And what difference does it make if I like your city or not. Since when did Andrews become the ultimate judge of what cities are right for you or anyone else.

What’s so scary about people having their own preferences?

Fed Ex was entirely out of line and owes Andrews an apology.

Don’t worry about them. Simply do you.

He would have loved Memphis if he had eaten at The Rendezvous! I’d go there today if I wasn’t stuck in Chicago. Wait…I don’t mean stuck…I’m mean lucky to be in…? Really – I love it here!!

Dear FedEx, get over yourself and your city. One could not like anything about anywhere… maybe he doesn’t like the weather? OMG! Traitor! The point is that we spend too much time reading into something that isn’t a big deal at all. How much productivity was wasted because someone at FedEx decided to spam all the upper level managers? Why aren’t we talking about that? Enough with the uptight bullsh1t and get back to work. Seriously, bigbadbob

Yes, Andrews. As in the wife of James Andrews. Read on: http://funkidivagirl.com/2009/.....ing-about/

No one is allowed an opinion anymore? Jeez, Fedex doesn’t own Memphis. Is it going to take responsibility for all the prostitution and urban decay if it’s going to get on its high horse about being a spokesperson for the city. Yeah the guy was a tool to slam the city on Twitter but the Fedex guy needs to take his head out of his a*s

This case raises some interesting issues. The offending tweet (and tweeter) http://twitter.com/keyinfluenc.....1119553072 did not reveal the name of the client or the city. He was clearly within his boundaries expressing his personal opinion. That his client picked up the tweet, put it together and essentially bullied him in what amounts to a power play, “The kicker is that they copied the FedEx Coporate Vice President, Vice President, Directors and all management of FedEx’s communication department AND the chain of command at Ketchum” is a living case study on how the social web is clashing with command and control enterprise DNA. Andrews has the right to speak his mind, the FedEx gotcha employee had a right to be offended, but where this goes off course is when the company exercised its commercial relationship to embarrass Ketchum and perhaps exacerbate a souring agency relationship.

Like Memphis’ urban renewal, the social web is predicated on “a major political, community, … and business effort … to transform.” Free speech and candor is the armor worn by those of us fighting the revolution for enterprise transformation. I’m left wondering if this will ultimately come back to bite FedEx.

Memphis was okay. The reason FedEx is there is due to careful examination of airports, hubs, and weather as best optimized for what Fred Smith wanted to do. That is why FedEx is in Memphis.

I’m glad I don’t work there, even being flown out 3 times for interviews – I’m just not the corporate guy they wanted.

A PR guy gaffing like that will be looking for a new job soon.

ZING!

that’s an all-timer.

The New Yorker recently ran a piece by Mark Twain, arguably a pretty outspoken, controversial, writer. His thesis was that Freedom of Speech was only to be used after death. You can say what you want, if you leave it behind to be published after your funeral. Before that, it is a false right. That said, how could anyone, other than a consultant or law enforcement person paid to protect travelers, think saying anything bad about any place was a good use of free speech. I think Elvis would say: “If you can’t say noth’n good, don’t say noth’n”

@Dave,

Teach me…what, exactly. Writing on paper with pencil (as a metaphor for traditional broadcast mealy-mouth media) is slow and one-sided. Marking up paper with red ink (as a metaphor for refusing to collaborate via technology) is also slow and one-sided. Where’s the upside? I sure don’t see it.

By the time red-ink-and-paper gets through writing up his press release, the event has been done and people have moved on. Behold:

http://lifestreamblog.com/watc.....ifestream/

LOL! What an a-hole! LOLs

Hey Lawyerdude… I’ve seen N.Y…I’ve seen San Francisco… Dallas… Atlanta… Chicago…and lots of other cities. What you may have seen between the airport and the FedEx headquarters runs the gamut from desperately needing improvement to 5,000 sq. foot homes that you couldn’t afford in NY…San Francisco….Atlanta…etc.

As for the areas needing improvement, I’ve lived here most of my life and there those areas which are recognied around town as slums…(you didn’t really see any unless you wandered through town looking for a twenty)…in NY they are considered as part and parcel of your 300 year history….In other words, we call ‘em slums….you call ‘em home and charge $1000 per sq foot when you can find someone who would want to buy one.

If you’ve got the guts, come on down and spend some time with us….but leave your attitude in your NY slums….er…uh….brownstones.

While I agree that one should be careful what they put on blogs, I also have to wonder about freedom of speech. I truly wonder how much of it we have left.

Society has become so crazy about being politically correct that what we say has to be carefully thought out before speaking it or typing it. How far is too far? It’s not twitter.com’s fault that this happened. The only thing twitter asks on the site is “What are you doing?” not “Who would you like to offend today?”

It boils down to this. Before typing anything on any blog, forum or website where millions of people can see what you wrote, ask yourself if it’s something that can come back to haunt you. If it is, I would think twice before putting it out there for the whole world to see.

At least his wife is defending him.

http://funkidivagirl.com/2009/.....omment-270

My “Memphis Commercial Appeal” arrived this morning with a tear through the comments by Andrews. Yes, we take pride in our city, and I hope Anthony J. Colleluori (lawyer dude) doesn’t come to visit again because he’s ruder than even Andrews. Not only do we have one of the best zoos in the country, but a city rich in music history. Also, you can buy a lot more house for the money and go out for a great meal without using your entire paycheck. You don’t have to like our city, but if you’re doing business here…

I think the Keyinfluncer is Peter! Look how many people have commented on this story!

I hope most PR people know WHEN to hold their tongues! In the fourth grade, a note I wrote was read aloud to the class, my mom told me then, “NEVER WRITE anything you don’t want everyone to see!” That goes for e-mails, video and audio too! Big brother is everywhere these days!

Several comments seem to forget why this guy was in Memphis in the first place. It’s the equivalent of FedEx bringing in an aviation expert for a presentation on flight safety and the guy crashing the airplane on landing by forgetting to put down the landing gear.

Hopefully Mr Andrews learns from this!

He wrote what he felt and it’s there for the world to read – no point arguing it or trying to hide.

If he takes the blows now but incorporates it into his speeches as a personal example of how Social Media impacts the corporate world he will prove he has learned a valuable lesson.

Yowza. What an idiot. Think before you do smarty!

Andrews’ timing on this was awful and so was the reaction. I seriously do-not-care what other people think about things like this. Was it bone-headed to send a nasty tweet and then present yourself as a communications expert? Sure. But the return letter comes off as mawkish and indignant. I was in Memphis for Thanksgiving and the Whitehaven area around the airport is my old neighborhood. It’s getting pretty run down. I love and miss Memphis, but I’m not out of touch with reality about how things are going there. Overreacting to a comment that boils down to “I wouldn’t want to live here” is just a giant waste of time.

KeyInfluencer? More like KeyJackAss.

Seriously, anyone who calls themselves KeyInfluencer on Twitter display
a sort of clueless arrogance that makes this particular scenario entirely predictable.

Doofus.

Good advice! I think just as important is how we react to what we find/read on sites such as Twitter. The old adage “count to ten before you react” is good here. What someone posts on any specific site may not have been meant for us to read, and indeed may not have been meant at all and just said/posted in response to a private interaction with another with no real intent or thought of the consequences. I certainly would not want to be on either side of this type of interaction gone awry. For me it benefits to seek where my heart is before I either act, or react. I have never regretted waiting on the Lord’s guidance. Being the accused or the accuser both feel lousy. (We all think unflattering things at times: we are human; unfortunately, sometimes we post them.)

For all of you who are defending Mr. Andrews on the grounds of Free Speech, get this: I went to his blog to read his explanation, after which he asks for constructive comments. I sent such a comment, calmly worded and constructive, but not supportive of his explanation. He promptly went in and DELETED my comment! So much for respecting free speech on the Internet.

Since every comment on Mr. Andrews’ blog is supportive of him, we can only assume that he is systematically censoring all negative comments. It also leads to the suspicion that all or some of the comments are posted by friends or co-workers in an attempt to put a good face on his stupid blunder. Guess he’s a good PR guy after all!

Curt

Threat and intimidation for writing what you believe or an observation you might have. Nuh, not in my book. What happened to freedom of expression. Personally I would fire the letter writter for using duress and intimidation. Isn’t this a version of if you’re not with us you’re against us! Sorry folks- the town isn’t the company. And comments are the quality of your business. 100 Characters of tweet are worthy of 1000 words in a reply I think not! – Goes to show how oversensative some folks are about things. The day you’re not allowed to express an opinion without fear of offending someone else or losing a contract is the day you may as well pack up.

If you stay positive, you never have things like this blowing up in your face.

I’ll bet you there are people living in Memphis that absolutely love it there and have never been as happy anywhere else.

Curt F.,
I don’t agree with Mr. Andrew’s actions (as noted above #89), and I did offer a dissenting opinion on his blog. To his credit, he posted my comment (http://www.thekeyinfluencer.co...../#comments). Jus’ sayin.

Every city looks like a dump between the airport and the hotel. I’m a New Yorker who spends a lot of time in Memphis. Great restaurants, fabulous ribs, delectable red velvet cake, and oh what music! There are plenty of things to enjoy; too bad Mr. Andrews will never be invited back. Community feeling/pride is something big city folks can’t understand.

PS — It could be that the FedEx folk didn’t get much out of the presentation, because they’re already there. Check out http://www.launchapackage.com.

This has been said above, but the last two posts suggest it needs to be said again: This whole thing has nothing to do with either the state of Memphis or the right of Mr. Andrews to express his opinion. This is about a lapse in professional judgement, one which has been acknowledged by Mr. Andrews’ employer but unfortunately not by Mr. Andrews himself.

Mr. Andrews presents himself as an “expert in social media,” and he was in Memphis AT THE EXPENSE of FedEx to make a presentation TO FEDEX EMPLOYEES about THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA. While here, he committed a cringe-inducing faux pas USING SOCIAL MEDIA! That, my friends, is irony, and the irony is the only reason we’re all talking about it.

Now, we all make mistakes, and I gave it no importance until I read Mr. Andrews’ “explanation” on his blog. Instead of acknowledging that he made a mistake, he actually blamed it on the “lack of context” allowed by the limited space on Twitter! This raises an obvious question: As an expert on social media, shouldn’t he have been aware of this? Doesn’t this “explanation” further undermine his own stated professional credentials? Wouldn’t it have been better just to admit the obvious–that he screwed up?

As I reported above, Mr. Andrews asked for constructive comments on his blog, then has proceeded to censor all comments that do not support his position. Apparently he recognizes that his position cannot stand up to scrutiny, so he witholds from others the freedom of expression he claims for himself. When you add to this his decision to blame his problems on the very social media he claims to have mastered, and his failure to humble himself enough to do adequate damage control (a required skill in the public relations field), there is more than adequate reason to question his professional judgement in his chosen field. That makes it a legitimate issue of consideration for both FedEx and the higher-ups at Ketchum.

Remember the Seinfeld episode where Jerry suspects that his dentist converted to Judaism just so he could tell Jewish jokes? When asked if this offended Jerry as a Jew, he said, “No, it offends me as a comedian.” Well, I’m both a Memphian and a public relations professional, and I can assure you that Mr. Andrews’ original Tweet did not offend me as a Memphian. In fact, the FedEx employee who wrote the letter made it clear that this was not the problem. Like me, the FedEx employee was offended not as a Memphis, but as a public relations professional. We were offended by the lapse in professional judgement demonstrated by Mr. Andrews while traveling in his professional role as a consultant in social media to a Memphis-based firm. Again, that makes it a legitimate area of concern for both FedEx and the higher-ups at Ketchum. It also means that the FedEx employee was entirely correct in reporting this unprofessional behavior to management.

Dear James Andrews,

I take issue with your comments and defense via your recent blog posting about the incident involving your tweet, and once again I sense a serious lack of professional judgment on your part.

I mean, seriously? Are you REALLY trying to pass off the ALLEGED encounter at your Memphis hotel as the reason behind your “I would die if I had to live here!” tweet? And are you failing to accept responsibility by faulting Twitter for only allowing you 140 characters as your reason for not fully clarifying your statement? You sir, are an IDIOT, and must think we are as well if we believe your reasoning.

We the citizens of Memphis and employees of FedEx aren’t ignorant and buying your BS – your are lucky you still have a job and that your firm still has the FedEx account, for now.

Grow up little boy, learn how to be a man and at least own up to your mistake. Be responsible with your words via ALL platforms (even in 140 characters) and know that while the 1st amendment protects freedom of speech – when it involves work and one of your company’s BIGGEST clients – keep your sarcastic trap shut.

Do you think it would have been responsible and not caused an uproar if the VP of Communications for FedEx put out a tweet saying, “The blogger VP who works on our Ketchum account is a DOUCHE BAG.” But lets be more realistic on what the FedEx VP’s tweet might and should have said, “True confession, but we are wasting our money by paying Ketchum for training sessions on social media.”

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, sometimes it is best not shared.

wow. what a s***storm this has turned out to be. (and no, shankman’s site crashing is not my fault, despite what he claims.)

@ Curt F. I too posted a negative (but I thought constructive) comment to Mr. Andrew’s blog. it’s awaiting moderation. other comments posted later than mine have been approved though, so… draw your own conclusions.

just in case it never sees the light of day, here’s what I posted over there:

James:

as one of the people having a bit of fun about this at your expense — see http://blogs.computerworld.com.....ter_tricks — please allow me to apologize if I’ve caused you any pain.

of course, it’s really shankman’s fault. I just piled on.

now… about your explanation. if you were hoping to toss a bucket of water on this odd flamewar that erupted over your tweet, I don’t think you’ve succeeded. you wrote above that 140 characters doesn’t provide context. well, give us some context. all we know is that you had an unpleasant encounter with someone and you used twitter to vent. the devil is in the details, james. tell us your story and maybe the rest of us outside memphis who think you stuck your foot in it will sympathize. otherwise you just sound like another new yorker forced to venture south of new jersey and hang with the yokels to your endless distaste.

what amazes me is that someone as highly placed in the PR world as you are can be so bad at damage control. what would you advise a client to do in this situation? surely not this. so how about taking another whack at it?

the good news: this will all be over soon, and someone else will be roasting slowly over an open flamewar.

cheers,

dt

So you can’t be honest any more and be respected? If that is what he felt then that should be accepted as an oppinion and nothing more. People get upset over the stupidest things.

Yikes!
that twitter will be wearing shoes made of eggshells for the rest of his life.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SNAP! What an asshat, oh well, try not to tweet negatively about those that butter your bread

There’s two important points here. 1) Twitter is a living organism with a high white blood cell count. It’s constantly seeking to find and eliminate poison. 2) With that said I think it’s a little sad that we get so worked up about 140 character responses. You do have to be really careful, but if someone says something that offends you, there’s a huge chance that you’ve misunderstood something. Seth Godin refuses to use twitter for the very reason that it’s so easy for misunderstandings to arise.

What a horrible situation to find yourself in, cut/air/knife lucky for me (in some ways) I always say exactly what I think – or make up a daft metaphorical tale in it place – no where to hide for him poor boy – personal branding with these services is something he couldn’t have thought about much either, city folk often think country folk are lacking brain cells – the curt reply is a lesson for townies – internet actually works outside of NYC /LONDON and PARIS – we have phone lines in the countryside you know!

Two Words: Tweet Responsibly

Curt F. = FedEx Weasel? — Just sayin’ =8^)

Whoops… Yes, we all need to be careful what we tweet sometimes.

S

Let’s get a few things straight:

1) Mr. Andrews never mentioned Memphis in his tweet — a tweet that would have been a non-issue had it not been for petty, hypersensitive FedEx employees making it into an issue.

2) If FedEx’s upper management had brushed the issue aside rather than writing a letter filled with thinly-veiled threats, the company wouldn’t have a PR headache now.

FedEx should fire the employee who wrote this letter.

*I* certainly won’t do business with the company, or any vendor who uses the company, as a result of this letter. Any organization whose employees are that territorial and gifted with abundant free time to take a non-issue so far up the corporate ladder — a non-issue regarded so seriously by upper management that it was addressed in a bullying manner — is not an efficient organization.

Further, if FedEx is willing to put its petty regional tribalism above the quality of Ketchum’s work (which I assume to be excellent, given the reference to the millions of dollars being paid the company) then such behavior underscores my belief that FedEx is not a well-run corporation.

Twit twit

Yikes! A couple times I have typed something on Twitter, looked at it, then deleted it. I just got to wondering: 1. Is it true. 2. Is it necessary. 3. Do I want to see it in print for the next 20 years in a format where I can’t control it once it’s said.
Of course, this is the reason I made theCRICKETtoy. For any of these ‘awkward’ moments.
Chirp. Chirp.
Jeff

Welcome to Web 2.0 – Sometimes heaven and hell seem to be the same…

Looking at this from marketing stand point, it’s example of how even bad experiences can be used to market your business.

I do agree it was a bad mistake on Mr. Andrew’s, but with some work he can turn this around to be a powerful marketing tool.

I wonder how much publicity this article is going to recieve?

Ouch is right! i am always having to think even more before i speak, & type now… wow- Look what the internet has done to us…:)

Business 101 in the digital age or any age…don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Talking in public about a client is just bad.

Talking negatively in public about a client is just bad.

I started reading this article with one opinion, but now I have another. I feel this hubub about his twitter post is actually a violation of his free speech. So he soesn’t like Memphis and doesn’t want to move their. My guess is he’s “selling” Fed-ex, not the city of Memphis, and besides, if he does his job then that’s that. He wasn’t incredibly rude or vulgar. This is a bit excessive.

Well, maybe he should have waited until after his presentation was over, but I read his comment and think, “So what?” Maybe I could see it if he actually mentioned the name of city, but he didn’t do that. Were I, a normal Joe Blow, to read that, I would wonder what city would prompt that, but then I’d think of my own experiences with cities that are well beloved but stink (both literally and figuratively).

Well, there are some people always looking for offense because they have nothing else better to do with their time. :-(

Shame on all you who encourage the silence for people like this Twitter user. What does it mean for this country when a person’s not allowed to publicly state his distaste for a particular city… Honestly, I’m not that fond of Memphis myself, and would never really wanna live there… in fact, there are a bunch of cities that I’d never want to live in…

Perhaps the author is sensitive because of the pay cut… perhaps they were just having a bad day… perhaps they’re just one of those people with a troll-like personality that ends up blowing things out of proportion before they can think about it much.

Mr. FedEx, read this: I’d rather die than live in a country where I’m not allowed to say what I think. There were a great number of people who worked hard to get me that right. And in keeping with the tradition of this nation, I believe we should do all we can to protect that freedom.

Sorry, but the only thing this tells me is the person who wrote that letter, and the people who reaaaaached so very far to be offended, are clearly jerking off at work instead of doing anything actually, you know…productive. FedEx ought to look into that.

SLAM! FedEx… you just lost my business. Sorry, I may be one of the few on this side of the road but….

The irony of this situation is not lost on me.. however, at the end of the day, when we take off our suits and put up our feet, we are all human with opinions…

This is outrageously overblown on the part of FedEx. Please, the post is a personal opinion of an area or something that happened to Mr. Andrews while in the area nothing more. At the time it was undisclosed why Mr. Andrews wouldn’t want to live there and FedEx made huge assumptions as to Mr. Andrews intent. When that happens in my camp…I pick up the damn phone and ask the person directly what they meant before wasting a ton of time collaborating with my constituents on how to bash someone publicly with “read between the lines” threats and innuendos. Now that is lacking in professionalism and bordering on malice.

Mr. Andrews doesn’t mention “why” he doesn’t want to live in the “undisclosed” city…. I, personally, would die if I had to live in Orlando because it is so freakin humid. Does that make me a basher of my clients there or a hater of Orlando??

In my opinion, the over sensitive whiplash response of FedEx is very close to a defamation of character making Mr. Andrews look like a bad person. Just because he voiced his opinion about an area doesn’t relate AT ALL to the company he does business with nor his expertise in the social media realm. (again, the irony is still not lost on me and there is a lesson here on both sides)

I also feel that FedEx didn’t do themselves a great service by putting a magnifying glass on their local issues. It was almost like reading an over exaggerated, very long excuse for nothing intended to belittle another.

I own a company in Tucson, AZ. I have heard many of my service providers/trainers tell me to my face, they would die if they had to live here in the summer… I would too…lol.

On a lighter note.. reply #201 Kevin… He is representing FedEx????? Should he be fired for such unprofessional content?

There is no violation of free speech. We are all free to say things like this. We all, with a few obvious exceptions, just know that it’s not smart to show up at your best client’s house and announce loudly on your cell phone before knocking on the door that it’s the ugliest turd of a house on the block.

What adds insult to injury in this case is that @keyinfluencer was there to offer advice about not making a social networking faux pas EXACTLY like the one he made.

I will commend Mr. Andrews though for sending his friends and cronies here to make defensive comments on this post for at least a small amount of damage control.

Or you could just make your posts private in the Twitter account settings and not have to worry about it.

Seems like the problem wasn’t what the gentleman wrote on Twitter, but was instead that he happened upon a particularly bitchy employee.

Maybe the guy from Ketchum would die if he had to live in a city without a Pink Sushi bar, or the heat was unbearable for him.

What level of political correctness are we expecting to assume that every visitor to our city would want to live there. To be effective on Twitter, in my opinion, you have to be genuine and sincere.

I would ignore him if he sent tweets talking about how great every city he lands in is.

#169 Fishnlawyr I think you proved my point. Nobody’s hometown is perfect for everyone. That is why taking umbrage about the tweet was a stupid inane act made worse by sending it out in an e-mail written to everyone and their mother. Criticize MY City as much as you want. It means nothing. I will still think it is the best city in the universe. I will also judge your work based on the value it brings to my business which pays the taxes that make my city run.

Who cares what some dipsh*t who works for your ad agency tweets? Obviously Andrews hit a little too close to home for the d.b. who sent out the email. Have you ever been to Memphis? It’s way worse off than Andrews implies. Lookup the FBI’s crime rankings for U.S metropolitan cities.

It does show the problem of social networking — that what we think we’re writing for friends is actually accessible by people we don’t know or who don’t understand any nuance about the person who’s writing/tweeting/blogging. With Twitter, the additional problem is that, when you search on Twitter, you see just the individual tweet, not the entire chain of dialog.

Here’s something a lot of people posting probably don’t understand: Memphis gets a lot of criticism – some of it deserved, much of it not – and the city as a whole suffers from a self-wrought inferiority complex. A Memphian myself, I bristle up when someone attacks my hometown, so I understand where this FedEx employee was coming from. I’m an involved citizen who cares about making Memphis a better place, and when I witness a setback like this guy’s ill-thought-out tweet, it ticks me off too. If he took the time to explore Memphis, he’d find a city with more character, culture and soul than most. And if you ask me, he didn’t give himself much credit as a communicator.

“Crime infested stench?” Wow, that lawyer dude must think himself very familiar with Memphis. That’s funny. I can think of one 9-square-block area in which I’m vaguely uncomfortable driving around by myself in Memphis. Other than that, I’ll go anywhere in the city, and if I have to stop and ask directions, there’ll be people happy to help me. How many people can say that about their city? We certainly have our share of the pathetic, but we also have our share of the sublime, and much of it has more to do with the people than the edifices…

You’re right, no one’s hometown is perfect for everyone. I’d go farther to say that no one’s hometown is perfect, period. I don’t think that makes it okay to take cheap shots at each others’ cities. As a matter of fact, for people who claim a certain degree of professionalism or intellect, statements that ooze snobbery refute their claims. Such statements reflect a lack of depth in your thinking in much the same way as would similar cheap shots taken at a person’s race or religion.

I am amused.

Mr. Andrews writes in his blog at http://www.thekeyinfluencer.com/channel/: “Two days ago I made a comment on Twitter that was the emotional response to a run in I had with an intolerant individual. The Tweet was aimed at the offense not the city of Memphis.”

However, his tweet stated: “True confession but I’m in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say “I would die if I had to live here!”

See any disconnect between the original statement and his explanation?

In what way does his explanation cast him in a better light than his original remark? Either he’s making up an excuse that he believes places him in a more sympathetic light, or he’s especially poor at concisely and accurately capturing his thoughts.

Ouch – Alas, the power of Social Media.

I feel embarrassed for @keyinfluencer. If twitter was around 10 years ago when I was stuck in the Memphis airport, I can’t promise I wouldn’t have tweeted a similar comment. I doubt he meant any harm by it… but it is good practice to tweet positively :)

While I sympathize with the FedEx people, frankly, I think they are being a bit hypersensitive. I’m sure a few of those folks have made at least a few similar, negative remarks in passing about “world-class” hellholes like NY, LA, SF, CHI, and lesser, aspiring hellholes like ATL, DFW, HOU, etc. ;-)

The response certainly draws more negative attention to Memphis, FedEx, and its staff than the tweet itself. And it really achieves nothing other than to muzzle frank, honest discussion on a tool that derives much of its value from frank, real-time, spontaneous communication.

I think the best response would have been lighthearted jabs back at Mr. Andrews’ city, along with some self-deprecating comments on both ends. Everyone could have had some fun, diffused some of the tension, maybe even bonded and drawn more attention to the virtues of Memphis.

After all, showing some self-confidence and comfort within one’s skin is more attractive than lashing out defensively — which suggests low civic self-esteem, and/or that there might be some truth to the attacks.

I gotta say…sure, it’s not the best idea to Tweat that. But the FedExer who sent that e-mail was being wildly thin-skinned and rude. If he had a problem, he should have talked to the guy, not make a spectacle of it.

Are you kidding? I live in Memphis, have lived in Boston, London, SF, and Atlanta. New York is a nasty place, too. Even Manhattan has blemishes but this is an arrogant ass, Andrews dealing with an arrogant company, FedEx. If they think Memphis is so f;($@”g great, why don’t they fire Ketcham and hire one of the several Memphis-based national award-winning PR/Ad agencies? FedEx doesn’t support it’s own hometown!!!

what was so bad on his comment? i cannot find anything about and i am pretty sure there are much more citiy you can say it and nobody will wonder, like mexico city, jakarta, johannesburg, washington dc….etc

he is maybe right. he moved there because of his job and many, many people do this for an time peroid. living in a city you dont like but you work there.

why i have to love the city i work in?

all the proud memphis people should not behave like pussies and smal children. with those behaviour they just tell me. there must be something about what andrews wrote about.

i am from munich, i love this city and if someone says something bad about…
i just dont give a shit.

Hmm. Interesting. All he said was that he would “die if he had to live here”. Which could mean many, many things.

Maybe he didn’t like the food there? The traffic sucked? Or from my point of view, I might have interpreted the Tweeter’s post as such. Maybe he was just hot!

I have been to Tennessee (Nashville, in August, no less), and can say firsthand that it’s DURN hot & muggy there. ‘Course I’m a northerner, so I imagine it’s different for other folk.

While I agree that you do have to be careful of what you Tweet, this FedEx dude totally got out of the wrong side of the bed, missed his train, spilled his coffee or whatever that morning, which made him decide to get a serious bug up his you-know-what and take it all out on Mr. Tweeter.

Just my $.02.

Let’s be clear:

The comments James made are unrelated to FedEx or Memphis – they relate to the racial intolerance he experienced.

I welcome it anytime someone blows the whistle on such treatment. We’re better than that.

How stupid to write a negative Tweat, then show the very people you wrote about how to find the comment!

wow, anything said in the social stratosphere can be held against you. If working in the agency world (like myself) you must always pause before writing. Especially if it is well known what agency you belong to. No matter what you may think, your actions and words will represent you and (even if unfair) your agency. Be careful out there.

Lawyer Dude, et al: PR man, Ketchum, made his opinion public. The Fed Ex guy made his opinion public. It’s not tattling, it’s communicating. Just because one person said something that another took exception to doesn’t make either one a bad person (lout or over sensitive tattle tale). It just so happens that Fed Ex guy’s public is the one dishing out the dough, and that carries a little more weight — you’re a lot more polite to a doberman than to a chihuahua.

I dont think he said anything wrong at all, he just doesnt like the place.

Considering that Hugh Macleod of Gapingvoid.com is marketing strategist for Stormhoek wine – a company that is looking to expand its reach in the UK, I find his recent comments on Twitter about Britain astonishing. They’re there for all to see including potential new clients from the UK

FedEx just lost me as a customer! Any executive at that company who has the time to respond to such a personal tweet has too much time on his/her hands which probably means FedEx should have laid some of these executives off rather than making everyone suffer a pay cut. Alex Ryking is right, there was no mention of FedEx or Memphis in the tweet. FedEx is a bully and while I understand Ketchum doesn’t want to lose this business, I don’t think Andrews should have to apologize for anything other than tweeting at the wrong time (before leaving Memphis!). Yes, we should all be careful what we say in this digital age but agencies are not slaves to clients as FedEx would have you believe.

Kudos to the team at FedEx for defending their hometown! People who make careless comments about clients in a public forum deserve to lose business.

And by the way, I’ve been to Memphis several times and really enjoy the city … Mud Island, the Peabody Ducks, Beale Street … makes me wish I wasn’t just changing planes there next week!

fwiw, neither andrews nor his “funkidivagirl” spouse ever published my comments, which were mildly critical but not mean or obscene. (see #202 above).

so to the world, it looks like they’re surrounded by people who know they were right all along. kind of like W was for so long. that didn’t turn out too well for him either, in the long run.

bottom line: a) andrews truly doesn’t get social media at all, and b) ketchum is going to have a hard time getting my attention the next time they want me to write about one of their clients.

over and out.

dt

Proving again that corporate America must sugar coat everything, lie essentially) to make it palatable. So Memphis sucks. We don’t need a dumb-ass Twitterite to tell us which way the wind blows.

I saw this tweet. I remember I was so amazed by this one. I agree that we have to be ‘careful’, but let me say my opinion: if a guy don’t like your town, this has nothing to do with his work quality. FedEx suddenly realized that “we just entered the second year of a U.S. recession” and so on. WHAT??

But you’re right: I didn’t attend to his presentation ;)

I thought the FedEx response was incredibly well-conceived and delivered with the utmost class. Kudos to them for defending their hometown, and the whole episode should serve as a warning to everyone using (and abusing) social media.

Thank you Peter! Isn’t there an adage — if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all? Or was that missive not taught to professionals under the age of 50?
Great job of making everyone aware! What a hard lesson for the Ketchum VP to learn. I wonder if he’s been removed from the account?
K. Osborne

What? You can’t express an opinion anymore? Have we been so emasculated by the politically correct demands of our over-socially engineered society that we can’t comment?

Obviously FedEx luminaries that fell into an uber-sulk have no understanding of the distinction between an offensive comment and one that causes offence. They are not the same – with the latter, the respondent takes responsibility for their feelings. The squealing over-reaction of FedEx shows that it is happy to blame anyone but itself for its hyper-sensitivity.

Great work FedEx, defend your patch from the supposedly all knowing ‘key influencer’ who was ‘too cool for school’ and shouted a bit to loud.
Ketchum and their ilk might preach about the new world order but clearly are not walking that talk.
Bravo FedEx execs, i’d love to have a seat at the negotiation table when the contract comes up.

Wow. I can now see a reason to have TWO Twitter accounts.

He might have to be careful, but I don’t: why the hell *would* you want to live there? It’s a big town, but there’s nothing to do. You can taste the boredom and death in the air.

I find it funny and a bit odd that many bloggers are taking this as a big company trying to censor free speech or Twitter in general. It’s not about that.

Anyone is welcome to say whatever they want online or off (not including the “Fire!” in a crowded theater example). But just be ready to bear the burden and consequences of those words. Andrew was well within his right to say Memphis sucked. And FedEx is well within their right to not utilize his services because of it.

Don’t cry “victim” when your words come back to bite you. Say what you like – but take personal responsibility for whatever may come of it. Simple as that.

Neither side comes off too well, though i think FedEx comes off worse as they are clearly not able to take a joke (irrespective of whether that was one) and then proceeded to make the issue personal by making comments that undermine their own internal competency – if their internal staff would really do a better job, what’s wrong with their management or is it just too expensive to do in-house?

Generally I think a polite request for an apology might have made them seem a more friendly company ;-)

This is a great opportunity for Mr. Andrews. Yes, he may have posted an “ugly” Tweet, but anytime people complain, it shows they care (or else they would have said nothing and took their business elsewhere).

I’d be interested to know how Mr. Andrews recovered from this lapse in judgment. Hopefully, he turned it into a win-win for all.

Wow…I was about to install Twitter on my company site today….makes me think twice about that. Yikes!

Wow! Most of you guys are missing the point. He didn’t say Memphis or FedEx was racist. He stated that a short time after arriving in Memphis he had an encounter which made him realize this wouldn’t be a pleasant environment him and his family. None of us want to live anywhere where we are expected to encounter racist on a daily basis, or maybe some of you do? If you were a racist white male from Alabama you probably wouldn’t want to move to South Central Los Angeles.(Where I Live Now.) I can say Alabama because that’s where I’m from and I encounter racism every time I visit my mother. So, I will base my comment on what I know. Can you believe I went to a High school baseball game and some drunk guys were chanting “hey nigger, nigger swing;” And nobody said anything. My White/Thia business partner who came along with me on this particular visit, decided this was not the environment for him and could never live there. He liked my mother, crazy uncles, and white friends but knew he could never live there. I don’t see anything wrong with that. Anybody who has lived in Alabama for a period of time knows the racism is still prevalent. Would you want to live there and raise your kids? Yes Racism exist but, when it’s excepted that’s where I have a problem.
Now the real question is what was the FedEx employee’s real motive and purpose? Why didn’t he speak to Mr. Andrews and ask him If he had a problem with Memphis or FedEx? I would hope that after finding out what happened to Mr. Andrews, the FedEx employee would then apologize to Mr. Andrews and explain that Memphis is a great place and that particular incident is not what FedEx or Memphis is about. It seem like the FedEx employee endorsed what happened, seeming to say what’s wrong with what happened, that’s’ Memphis, you don’t like racist, you don’t like discrimination, then you don’t like FedEx? I’m pretty sure FedEx doesn’t tolerate racism, sexism or discrimination of any kind. So, why would they expect Mr. Andrews to put up with it. Wow. Because they are clients and are paying you there’s no racism in Memphis? The power of money…
This whole incident shows that racism and sexism is very relevant today as it was 20 years ago. If this was a white woman who had gotten groped my an hotel employee and she posted a “tweat” stating men in Memphis should behave themselves. Everybody would be on her side; “I can’t believe that happened”, “I’m sorry that happened”, “Lets call the hotel, That guy should be fired.”
All I’m saying is just think about it?

In the great words of Mr. King “Can’t We All Just Get Along?”

time is money – until you mentioned it – skin color wasn’t the topic of the conversation – the conversation was about a man that is paid a lot of money by a company, then he makes a big ‘faux pas’ by bitchin’ about the town that the company operate in via a public service – twitter.

your post is designed to grab attention, yes, but it also has all the hallmarks of a flame about it – keep to the topic rather than inventing a conspiracy theory – you’ll be bringing Elvis into this next!

NO, No Elvis has left the building. This whole conversation misses the point that I think the source was making. Mark Twain opined that the right to free speech really isn’t conferred until after death. Write what you believe in and have a literary agent publish it for you, soon after your passing. In the meantime, be careful of what you post on the net because it will be there for a long time. Very simple piece of clean advice. The rest of the debate is all issues that have been line extended by the class. QED

Well It is not just about twitter, it’s everything online…social pics, blogs, your status on facebook…the fact is simple..if you use the web…assume nothing is private..so think before you type!

I can appreciate the PR angle, but come on! aren’t we past the olden days where everything you put on the internets was basically an electronic version of your sales brochure, word perfect and edited by an army of lawyers and marketing departments? It’s not called “social media” for nothing! People use the internet (and Twitter in particular) for light conversation nowadays, for chatter, diatribe, nonsense, without putting too much weight into every utterance. Sure, you can say it’s careless. But I say it’s how a social web works. Unless it’s a static sales brochure.

And @tyler hurst: I think you just proved with your comment that stupid is as stupid does.

I feel like this story speaks to the very problem of trying to write humor. One of the first things I learned about writing is how notoriously difficult it is to convey humor in writing; unlike speaking directly to another person, writing has almost no voice inflection. Even though Mr. Andrews was undoubtedly trying to be funny, his thoughtless comment was clearly not well well received. It also shows the amazing reach of Web 2.0, and just how seriously it needs to be taken.

I have total sympathy for Ketchum. He made a throw-away remark about a city that he didn’t even mention by name. It took someone who obviously relished making a huge stink out of nothing to make this an issue. Thanks to this person his/her cherished city is now very publicly being associated with all kinds of nastiness.

Truth has always offended those people who lack the humility to accept it.

Socrates was forced to drink poison by the Athenians he offended because his questioning dialogues humiliated them.

Jesus was crucified for preaching the Gospel.

Prideful people are incapable of accepting the truth, instead they turn, like a pack of wild dogs upon those who tell the truth and devour them.

James Andrews did nothing wrong. He simply commented on the state of a city that did not appeal to his aesthetics.

If the Memphians truly take pride in their city, they’d clean it up and renew it, instead of acting vindictively towards someone who has a full right to express his honest and truthful opinion.

Rule of Thumb: “think before you tweet” or post anything transparent. Or for that matter before you open your mouth. He could have easily tweeted something positive about visiting such a cool city instead of being negative.

Everyone seems to be taking sides, not realizing that there were faults made by both parties.

There is no doubt that Andrews should have known better than to make any public comment against an area where his client’s employees may live. Whether it’s his right to make such a comment during off-hours or if some people are over-sensitive about the subject doesn’t matter. Even those with average to low sensitivity about the issue are likely to at least think less of you for knocking where they choose to live.

Since most people seem to agree with that, I’ll spend a little more time detailing what I believe was the other problem that people are overlooking. Do not take this as being my placement of more blame on one than the other. They both deserve a lot of blame for the situation as far as I’m concerned.

So what did the FedEx employee do wrong? They automatically reacted in a protectionist manner instead of first getting the whole picture. Even they admit that the area Andrews would have seen first “is a bit of an eyesore”. The employee should have also known that Tweets don’t allow for much context and therefore he may not understand the full situation that presented Andrews. Anybody who has ever dealt with HR knows that two people should try to sort out their differences directly first if it is within reason to try (ie: neither party is being physically confrontational). The employee should have contacted Andrews directly to clarify the details leading up to the Tweet before taking any other action. At the time of writing the response, for all the employee knew, Andrews had been accosted by 7 beggars, 3 prostitutes and a mugger, surely enough to make anyone wish they’d never visited a city, and the employee’s own words indicate that that is within the realm of possibility for that area of Memphis. The employee also should not have launched such a significant attack while “not knowing exactly what prompted [Andrews'] comments.” To involve so many higher-ups while admittedly not understanding the situation they were sticking their nose into was at the very least premature.

The morals of the story are:
1) Everything you write on the net is public, so don’t say anything that could VERY EASILY be taken the wrong way.
2) When faced with a non-threatening situation, take the time to learn all sides of the story before deciding and reacting.

All is heard and seen in the new world archipelago. If it aint pc , it ain’t obama ,get used to it, back to paper and pencil for me. These aren’t “the good old days”

I’d agree with the 50% who say don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Supposing he was talking about Memphis, the quote ‘I would die here’ doesn’t say much. The FedEx writer seemed to think it meant ‘Hell Hole’. It could just as easily be sarcastic (not smart) or the more acceptable – I don’t like the weather here. Maybe his ex lives there … or he has no family/friends which is important to him.

I’ve lived in colder and warmer climates. Having spoken to customers I’ve had face-to-face and telephone conversations where it was essentially – the weather sucks here. That’s fine. I might get miffed about it but its not enough to write to say I won’t do business with you. If either has more to gain financially with their transaction it would be stupid to stop business because of such an easily out of context quote. PR person or not.

@Curt Bennett: “Everyone seems to be taking sides, not realizing that there were faults made by both parties.”

Exactly. As much as the original slant of the story emphasised how James Andrews’ comment on twitter negatively affected him, this whole saga turns on its head and comes back to bite FEDEX in the ass because it portrays them as a vindictive company willing to become upset over petty trivialities.

For God’s sakes, a man should be able to form, hold and express an opinion about his like or dislike for a town, without it being used as a weapon against him. FEDEX now needs to do damage control to undo the bad publicity their staff member has generated about them. They stand to lose far more than James Andrews.

Pettiness breeds pettiness. If they’re going to display themselves as such a mean spirited unkind company, then the general public will no longer feel good about using their services.

I’d fire the FEDEX employee who started this online circus and issue a press release apologising for all of it. And let that be a lesson to those who seek to exact petty revenge over trivial perceived slights. What utter rubbish!

You can lock your Twitter feed and only allow friends to be able to see it. Some people have two accounts: one for friends, and one for business.

Is this a case of “look before you tweet?”

Funny incidents like these make Twitter even more popular. It is free publicity.

Great article Peter. I spoke earlier this week at a bay area business leadership session and one of the topics I touched on was reputation management, which I followed up on at my blog. It really sometimes only takes a nano-second to consider reputation management before we open our mouths or hit the keys…

Sad to say…but many would agree with Mr. Andrews.
note to self: don’t let your clients know that nugget of information.

How stupid is that? I’m no genius, but I figured out quickly that “social networking” does not include privacy. I knew immediately that what I post is “out there” for any and everyone. Can’t believe some people think otherwise … like posting their personal phone numbers on FB, or dissing their employers …

“Twitter is great but it’s also gotten people in trouble.”

No, PEOPLE get themselves into trouble. Twitter is a tool, comparable to the blender in your kitchen. Does your blender get you into trouble? No. But if you leave the top off and fill it too full, YOU get yourself into trouble using your blender …

Remember personal responsibility. We each are responsible for how we use the tools.

“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. But there is a major political, community, religious, and business effort underway, that includes FedEx, to transform that area. We’re hopeful that over time, our city will have a better “face” to present to visitors.”

This is all I read. Want my list of crappy places?
Mike

I have to admit, being honest is a tough trade. As much as I like archaic politics and the Baptist-heavy energy, I think the overall draw for me is the stunning literacy rate or is it the proximity to Arkansas? Well. I’ll resist applying to Fed Ex any time soon. “Brown. The way we see the future.” This could be a used as part of a possible new ad-campaign for FedEx. Your’s free! I know the movie with Tom Hanks on that island wasn’t enough to show their dedication to packages and hope.

I don’t get it. They admit that the area around the airport is an eyesore with crime, prostitution, etc., yet they act offended when someone comments on this first impression of their city? Maybe they should expedite their face lift of that area if they don’t want more people to be turned off by the hideous condition of some areas of their city.

If you are a PR practitioner, it is your job to represent your clients in the best possible light. His remark was beyond disrespectful. If he was a savvy PR, he would know how social networking works and that of course, it could come back to haunt him. It’s called logic!

I’m with everyone that is tired of the quick trigger individuals that assume the worst and are eager to throw people under the bus for what likely was meant in jest, poor taste granted, but the person who indicated it was a huge waste of production time on FedEx’s part to cc all management, etc. was spot on. For god’s sake, you just too a five percent pay cut, and you’re wasting everyone’s time with your rant about Memphis. Last time I checked there is freedom of thought in this country, or did that get lost in the economic downturn as well. Everyone needs to lighten up and find things to be happy about. Aren’t things bad enough right now… laugh, it really doesn’t hurt. And, if that doesn’t work, have a drink!

It’s one thing to be proud of where you live/work. It’s another thing to bend over backwards to be asinine to someone who doesn’t share that opinion, especially when you admit what he’s seen might be enough to give someone that impression.

No, it wasn’t the most intelligent thing for someone in his position/profession to tweet, but as someone said above: “Are we not allowed to have personal opinions any more?”

A simple “We’ve seen this tweet and feel it’s disrespectful to us as a client of your company” would’ve more than sufficed in this case.

seems like fedex guys should lighten up. who cares if the guy doing their video likes one city or another. they are paying him for a video, not a devotional. i’ve been to plenty of cities that were not my favorites and i know there are people that hate my home town (san diego). big deal. can’t we all just get along and not take offense to every (ill-timed) offhanded remark? (ha – as i write this i remember that fedex must hate san diego too because they never can find my address, even though usps and ups never seem to have any trouble with it – sigh).

I agree you do have to be careful but the reason is not 100% because anyone can read what you write. A large percentage is also because people are far too damned sensitive these days. I’ve never been to Memphis although I may or may not have the same feelings as the original poster, which really wasn’t that bad of a comment. Freedom of speech is a must for everyone but if the guy was in PR he should now how even 100% innocent comments can be spun to meet other peoples own ends.

Suck it up. What a bunch of spineless people. The guy hated a city, who gives a shit? A few comments up someone wrote, “His comment was beyond disrespectful.” Are you serious? This society is so screwed up these days. Next people will go to court over hurt feelings…

Damn.

All because he said he didn’t like the town he was in?? Seriously?? wowwww.

Life lesson: They can’t get you for what you don’t say.

I guess it’s time to restate what so many miss in this discussion. The problem isn’t JUST that Andrews made an unfavorable comment regarding his client’s town.

FedEx hired Ketchum/Andrews to advise them on their digital and social networking endeavors. Andrews has great swagger about his social networking prowess, yet broke one of the most basic rules of his profession by putting this negative comment on twitter.

If Andrews was as great as his aggrandizing self promotion, this wouldn’t be an issue. If he was as great as he professes to be, he would have never made this mistake. By making this dumb, rookie mistake, he’s brought into question his value. THAT is the issue.

I totally agree with Scott Fox that the reputation we build online has a much wider reach and longer memory. This is going to haunt him for a while. Not only was it inappropriate because of his relation to the client, it is simply a bad idea to air a negative attitude when you are in PR – it is rarely a successful approach. Not to say you can’t be publicly critical, but in this case it was simply negative as it brought no value to anyone.

Freedom of speech baby. He should be allowed to say whatever he wants and he did. The whole point of pathetic sites like Twitter is that unimportant people get a chance to be heard. That’s what he got. The question is why is everyone so surprised by these stories that people are actually reading their posts!

I agree 100% with Anthony J. Colleluori aka That Lawyer Dude. I’m shocked that so many people have jumped on the Andrews-bashing bandwagon to ridicule a man who was being honest and open.

Love this….especially being from Memphis and a lifelong Tigers fan among other things…

This is all nonsense. Wouldn’t you rather have people be honest at work than be phony? I take that back, it’s all just a boss butt-kissing fact “Oh wow…you have a beautiful family (snickers inside at how ugly his kids are)”. But outside of work as long as you’re not revealing proprietary information or classified information you have the right to express your opinion (actually it’s a constitutional right). They need to get rid of this whole “at will” employment schtick because in cases like this it abrogates a constitutional right.

He didn’t say anything too bad (and honestly memphis is probably a step up from some of the boroughs in new york (ie bronx, brooklyn)); he’s a pr rep, he should’ve found a way to spin this as being a lesson for the company…

Well that’s the rub- Over the years I’ve been bashed and burned and ridiculed for being human and letting the occasional off-color statement out that I’ve come to accept under certain circumstances it’s better to pause before speaking so I can be sure to refrain from commentary that might be used against me.

Doing so doesn’t discount who I am or compromise my identity and if that’s what it takes to be able to be taken seriously as a business person then for the most part, oh well. Now personally I won’t wear a suit or tie, EVER in a business environment and THAT triggers all sorts of nasty results, however that I can defend.

If, on the other hand, I have to be raw and cutting just to get a rise out of people, then what business do I have being the face of the company I represent?

This is ridiculous. So Andrews doesn’t want to live in Nashville. I’m sure there are many people out there that wouldn’t want to live in Nashville. I personally, don’t want to live in New England. Does that mean I hate everyone that does and think less of them because they do? No. I see no harm in someone expressing their opinion on anything as long as they are not disrespectful. And it should be no different for someone that just happens to have a career in PR.

I’m with you, Lauren. This was blown way out of proportion and anyone who was stupid enough to get “offended” by that “tweet” really needs to get a life and some perspective. If it was something along the lines of, “I get to talk to a bunch of dumb hicks today!” then I’d understand being offended, because that’s just rude and wrong, but saying he doesn’t like Memphis? So what? In the many cities I’ve lived in, if someone else says they don’t like it, I don’t pitch a fit like a colicky 3 year old. It just doesn’t matter to me. I lived in Knoxville for a year and a half and freaking detested it.

I agree with Anthony the Lawyer dude. The Internet has long been known as a place where people show their true colors, usually hidden behind anonymity where they can say what they want without reprisal.

Which is why I’m not putting my real name out there on this post. Too many assholes out there who’d cut your throat if you let them. Twitter Guy shouldn’t be worried about the company seeing this — he should be worried about some disgruntled asshole who just took a 5% pay cut and as a result is willing to throw you under the bus. Those people’s time will come, indeed.

BTW FedEx sucks. Go brown.

Once I came to accept that many people can become offended by what I perceive the littlest thing or what I think is perfectly valid humor I recognized that my indignation was arrogance.

All who have posted saying “people should lighten up” are missing the point and taking the arrogant stance. It is not for PR or marketing people to disregard the general sensitivities of their market or audience in a “screw you “mentality.

That is so disrespectful in a business environment given the very fact that so many people get upset and it takes very little effort to curb the wise-cracks in those situations that there’s no excuse in most situations.

Isn’t that what professionalism is supposed to be about?

Professionalism is about respect and understanding when communicating in an official capacity.
The twitter comment seems to have been a casual, personal statement about how they felt(obviously not intended to be a serious and offending statement) but the Fed-Ex one was created based upon their position at Fed-Ex, which makes me think that the response was unprofessional and the original wasn’t ;-)

If you don’t have anything nice to tweet, don’t

And I would wager he had not tried the BBQ, or he would have bought a 2nd home there.

imma

The challenge with that concept is that reputation management is now at the forefront and every day more stories are coming out where people are using twitter as if it were their own personal private chat area, even though it is not.

Reputation management best practices in a social media world dictate that if I want to say anything at all online I first need to consider whether doing so would reflect badly on me, my company, or my clients.

Case in point this very situation, which has now resulted in a serious controversy. While the saying “any publicity is good publicity” may be true for movie stars, it is most definitely not the case for corporate America.

I have been to Memphis many times and I like it there and they have the best BBQ. I’m Born and raised in NY, but I wouldn’t want to live there so I moved out.

I’m glad to say, I don’t partake in the whole blogging and twittering thing, because you just never know. If I do happen on something and comment, I typically don’t use my real name (duh).

Besides, I prefer the good old fashioned outdoors before the days when we had computers and all external devices that keep us tied to all this.

Over reaction.
Most similar comments are not posted online. If every comment would result in end of job or partnership, there would be no business relatioship.

An innocent mistake with horrible and overreacted outfall. THOUGH I have to say; You twittered this and you work in PR?

It is rarely appropriate to say something about another person that you wouldn’t say to their face. As I’ve said elsewhere on a similar subject, this is about integrity, or lack of it: a disconnect between who one is and what one says.

I have been to beautiful rural locations, to NYC which I love to visit, to many places I would “die if I had to live there” because I like walking to a coffee shop and warm weather. So the initial post, not naming Memphis, was innocent enough, but not competent given his position and “expertise” in social media.
Incompetence in this case is not knowing his client. Surely a brief cultural study of FedEx would expose many of the concerns mentioned above, from love of the city to digital sophistication. That said, who amongst us has not had a moment where we could have done something more thoughtfully? Now he has the opportunity to see how honesty and insight can work together.
Secondly, the FedEx employee made a strategic decision that had major political implications. Was it nice? Definitely not. Did it accomplish his goal? I don’t know what his goal was, but it seems to me that there was a lot of fear and hurt and anger in it. (And, no, I’m not a therapist.) He has taken a pay cut; he sees this guy as usurping his work. People defend when they feel attacked.
Apparently this post has generated 420 comments so far, so we all have feelings about it. The written word has limited capability to express feeling. What may have begun as humor (in less than 140 characters) has taken a number of us through a subjective roller coaster ride. While I choose not to “grow a pair,” I do choose to look at criticism with some amusement ;-)
Perhaps we might all do better to dial up the insight & empathy and dial down the vehemence. Just a thought.

Such snitching, sniveling sorry excuses for humans those initial Fedex employees who sent it to upper management.

Get a life and leave the guy alone.

Sounds like Fedex employees in Memphis are a bunch of whiny douches.

Be very careful. He should not have written that considering he is the vice president of that company.

A case in point: Tyler Hurst (#6 in this qeue) writes “Don’t be stupid should really be the first rule of ANYTHING,” followed by his amazement “that retards such as this still have jobs.” Do we ALL understand why Tyler is out of work? Your time has come dude.

PWN3D!

That post that Andrews made was just the kind of unwarranted arrogance that pervades advertising execs. Most agencies are filled with pompous, useless narcissists that add no value to the marketing and sales efforts of their clients. This clip from Youtube sums it up pretty well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fclYmVaORbM

I’m an idiot, you != Offending FedEx Executive. I don’t know why I substituted you for him; sorry about that. Embarrassing.

This is wrong. Who you are in your personal life has little to do with your professional life. I would never want to work for a company that hired based on one’s personal life. Who cares what someone does in their spare time. What matters is if they do good work.

FEDEX SUCKS!!!!! If they lose your package. (deliver it at the wrong address). All they say is “It was delivered on time” it doesn’t matter if it was delivered to the wrong address.

A clear case of ‘caveat twittor’ – a great snippet and reminder of the increasingly global need to think twice before hitting send.

It always amazes me some tiny, fragmented thought can cause such an uproar online.

In reading this Tweet, I didn’t think anything about it. Based on the FedEx response, I thought the guy must have used a bunch of profanity or lewd language to describe the town. Or even” Memphis SUCKS!”

In reading, I’d wondered if that Tweet just hit the wrong person on the wrong day. The response seemed a bit over the top – especially CCing to all those people to start a political firestorm. I wonder if the person who penned that response ever posted something to a social network THEY regretted? Or that was taken wrong by readers?

Thanks for sharing!

[...] including photos and stories, he knows what he’s talking about and will provide you with quality advice. #7. Startup [...]

He had his barbeque and cooked it too.
Memphis Pix Photo News

Sure, you need to be careful of what opinions you air on social media sites, but sometimes it’s just a matter of making clear what you want to get out of your message and why. If it’s just wenting or spreading negative emotions, that should be a hint that you should not hit send.

I thought you guys were supposed to be the bastions of the free world? What price free speech? …and as for FedEx, I just placed a company-wide ban on their use. You’ll pay the price when you foist that neo-Con censorship crap anywhere near me…

well this is a shocker.i was seeing this man 57 years old i thought he was ok.but hes not he is a perv let me tell you why.after being around him i recently found out that he like women only in there twenties that have fat azzes.im in cleveland he has a house on imperial off 116th and buckeye.anyway he used me to make it seem like was cheating on one of his po older friends which was me im 46.his name is eddie rice drives a blue van tinted windows,he is a perv an old dirty man he also has a house on 139th off kn kinsman so if you see a dark blue van and tinted windows,he wears glasses red kind of man winkled boney short and he always wear a hat cant miss he has nasty ass dirty false teeth in his mouth and he says the only reason why he date them is because they will give him a bj.he was only pretending to like me is so he could get close to my daughter but no i told her father so beware father,mothers,cousins make sure your girls between 20 25 mess with him remeber his name is eddie rice he play his numbers up and down e.116th and buckeye he played me for now reason and i did not deserve what better way to get him back put his business out on the street

As a recent college grad who isn’t a huge fan of my first job this article definitely made me take a 2nd look at me past tweets and to put some extra caution on future tweets even though my account it private.

Free speech comes with consequences…that’s just a fact of life.

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No one said this guy could not speak his mind.
This guy spoke his mind and someone (whose identity is unimportant as that is not the issue here) whose job it is to be somewhat familiar with people their company brings in for PR and other things saw what this guy posted.

Did FedEX overreact?
Not when you consider what Mr. Andrews’s job was.

What this should teach Mr. Andrews, and others like him who use Twitter as their diary, is that you should choose your 140 characters wisely, especially if they speak ill of your host’s home. Not saying ‘Memphis’ in his tweet does not make much difference if it is apparent that he is in Memphis. He could have taken a direct flight there; he could have already seen a FedEx official/representative in Memphis that can vouch that he was in Memphis when he tweeted his message, etc.

A Memphian figuring out that Andrews was talking about their city is not that difficult to wrap one’s brain around.

Some comments miss the point of speech freedom when they ask if no one is allowed to hold an opinion anymore. I suppose it should be stated that an opinion is a belief or thought one holds, and that everyone is free to EXPRESS their opinions.

What happened with Mr. Andrews is merely a (negative) consequence of speaking your mind. Yes, you CAN get in trouble for speaking your mind.
Shocking, right?

Mr. Andrews and many people who commented here seem to believe that one should be able speak their mind and escape any negative consequeces that result from doing so. Let me ask a question: if someone is being interviewed to be part of the President’s (country irrelevant) Secret Service, would the Secret Service let that person join if they found out that that person has said that they wish they could just kill the President because the President is, like, a total fricken moron who deserves to die the slowest death possible?

I doubt it, in fact, they might just try and get that person as far away from the President as legally possible or (depending on where one lives) they might just get rid of that person.

Would you let someone who insults you constantly stay in a room you are renting out in your home? Or would you just let the insults slide because that is just their opinion?
Probably not, depending on how much money they fork over.

Also, how many people can honestly say they want EVERYONE to be honest with them? I am not just talking about kind honesty; I am also talking about BRUTAL honesty. One should not expect everyone’s honesty to be kind and/or constructive; that is naive.

Keeping one’s opinion to themselves is NOT dishonest unless those opinions differ from what they DON’T keep to themselves.

P.S.: For those saying that people are too “overly sensitive” these days and should just shut up and take insults like their skin is iron, isn’t it funny that you’re getting really sensitive over people’s sensitivity? Why don’t you just “shut up” and let people be “overly sensitive?”

This makes me want to hang around the airport at Memphis. Sounds like an interesting and colorful city.

So Ketchum did stick his foot in his mouth and didn’t make the wisest decision by making that statement about Memphis; however I don’t think he meant anything malicious. I am a city girl at heart and love big cities like Los Angeles; I would probably “think” something along the lines of “Wow, I would die if if I lived in (insert small town here) but would think twice before I twittered if I represented a major company which may have associates there. However, I think we all know of tons of places where we would never ever want to live and find depressing. It can be hard to censor yourself because we are all used to being so candid on sites like Facebook etc.

Wow, the chances of that happening must be really small. I know I’ll be more careful about what I tweet from now on at least..