Today, Woody Harrelson’s PR agent decided to “kick things up a notch.” Instead of a typical press event for Woody’s new film “Rampart,” this press agent decided to show his level of “internet prowess” and offer Woody Harrelson up for interviews on Reddit, one of the most “real” Internet sites out there. (By “real,” I mean that it’s pretty much full of people who have their bullshit filters on a constant “ten” and can pick out when something is hype in about two seconds.

So, of course, they did. You can read the post, and the resulting crap that Woody Harrelson got here. It ain’t pretty.

While it’s fun to try new things, you have to KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE! When you don’t, and you do something like this, you’ll get caught. The worst part is that had the PR person simply taken the time to read other Reddit interviews, he could have avoided about 90% of the errors he made, which resulted in him being bitch-slapped as hard as he was. (And by extension, Woody.)

End result? As always, you gotta be real, transparent, and know your audience.

Am I the only weirdo who thinks this way? What “weird” things can you do in your company that might seem insane, but can cut costs, improve revenues, and give customers another road to happy? Brainstorm below.

As I’ve said many times, for many, social media is simply a better way to screw up to a much larger audience in a much shorter amount of time. Ashton proved that last week, when he defended Penn State’s fired coach without knowing all the facts of why he was fired.

Kutcher immediately took a ton of grief for his defense, and backpedaled, realizing what he did, and admitting that he screwed up.

He did the complete and total right thing. He screwed up, he admitted it, he apologized, and he owned it.

But that’s where his right moves ended. Instead of moving on, he took all the good that he did from his mistake and blew it – He gave control of his Twitter account to his handlers.

NO, NO, NO, NO, NO.

His handlers? Come on, Ashton. WRONG WAY TO HANDLE THE SITUATION.

The second you hand over your Twitter account to your people, your account stops being real, your voice starts being “crafted,” and you start being out of touch

Basic Twitter Rule for After You Screw Up:

1) Companies issue press releases. People Tweet. One of the reasons we like following celebrities on Twitter vs other means is that it’s them (mostly) doing the Tweeting. We know that Demi and Ashton would send each other notes on their arm, and we loved that. We had an “in” into their real world. Same thing for CEOs and the like. When Scott Jordan of the ScotteVest gets into arguments on Twitter, it’s really him – we like watching how he runs his business, and we learn from it. The second you give your Twitter account away to handlers, it’s not you, it’s not real, and people stop caring.

2) People screw up! That’s what make them people! They learn from it, and we learn by watching. Screw ups actually benefit us all. You’re going to screw up. There’s no doubt. You’ll be totally shocked by how badly you’re going to screw up. We all do it. Sometimes more than once. But we have to learn from it. I’ve learned from it, and I don’t bring my Droid out when I go out drinking anymore. I don’t tweet in anger anymore. We learn lessons. But we keep going! Giving your account away is a mistake. It says that you didn’t learn, you won’t bother to learn, and you’ll find new ways to make mistakes. If you’re a bad driver, learn to drive better. Don’t hire a driver.

3) Don’t Walk Away. You want to be beloved by your fans, your audience, your customers? Remember that the majority of them don’t have “handlers.” They can’t simply “walk away” when they do something stupid. If you really want to be taken seriously, you need to know that if you screw up, we expect you to apologize, and move on. We’ll want your stupid updates tomorrow, and we won’t want you to stop tweeting. But we’ll be pissed as hell if the next update on YOUR twitter account comes from your publicist. If we wanted to follow your publicist, we would.

4) In the end, being honest always beats being polished. We want our celebrities, our CEOs, anyone we follow, to be, more than anything, REAL. That means never knowing what’s coming next. If you’re afraid to be real because of one little screwup, you don’t deserve an audience to begin with.

Tell me what I’m missing, agree, or disagree with me below.

I’d like to give mega-props to Pete Czech, founder of the New Possibilities Group, for the incredible job he and his team have done on this rebuild. If you ever find yourself in need of some amazing technical work, you can’t do any better

Welcome and enjoy!

-Peter Shankman

Simply put, if you look at Macintosh users as customers, (which they are) then the product Apple creates is the customer service within the equation. Yes, there’s customer service at the Apple stores, or online at apple.com, but that’s (usually) a one-time thing. For the majority of us, customer service truly begins the first time we press that button and hear the beautiful C Major chord. It simply works. (And I’m not going to get into a semantics argument that it’s user interface or similar. Fact is, the product works to serve the customer the way they want it, thus, the customer service of Apple becomes the machine itself, whether it be an iPhone or a Macbook Air or an iPad.)

When my MacBook Air turns on, it becomes an extension of myself. It does so not in an overbearing or annoying way, but in such a way that I hardly know it’s there. It does what I tell it, when I tell it, and how I tell it. And on the rare occasions where it doesn’t, it usually takes just a reboot to make everything all right again.

This defies what we as customers expect (or usually receive) on a daily basis. Example:

This morning, I had to make a 6am Amtrak train from Penn Station to DC. I arrived at Penn Station at 5:40am, knowing that I had 20 minutes to print out my ticket from a kiosk and leisurely board the train.

But naturally, every single kiosk was down. (They all ran Windows, by the way, but that’s not the point.)

There was a 25-person line at the counter, and two people working it. 6:45, 6:50, 6:55… At 6:58, I get called up, and show my license. The man prints out my ticket, (with no great urgency) and I sprint to the other side of Penn Station to make my train. I make it with ten seconds to spare, and flop down into my seat, sweaty, out of breath, and pissed off.

Sadly, that’s the kind of experience we come to expect as customers, whether it be with the transportation we take, or the machines on which we compute. That’s why my Macintosh is so refreshing. When I open the lid, I simply KNOW it will work.

Can you imagine ever having that kind of trust in an airline? Or Amtrak? Or a fast food restaurant, or a car dealership?It’s beyond rare, to say the least. If you follow me on Twitter, you know the issues I’ve been having with my Verizon Wireless MiFi card for over a month now.

Some say the faith that Apple users put into the products they use defies all known types of customer experience known to man. I say it’s simply customers reacting to amazing customer service, and showing their passion and gratitude for it. Passionate customer service will always generate passionate response. Do you have the same level of passion for your customers that Apple does in theirs? Do you have fans? Or simply customers?

Create such amazing products and services within your company that your customers become fans, and offer their trust and faith in you.

Because once you have a customer’s trust and faith, the rest becomes easy.

Rest in Peace, Steve. Thank you for understanding that.