The Brilliant Way the CIA joined Twitter

US governmental agencies routinely secure social media account to prevent unauthorized users tweeting and

The CIA filed an impersonation complaint with Twitter against such a user, the Langley-based agency decided to open its own (and verified) account on Twitter and Facebook.

In an official statement the agency announced: "This week, the CIA moved deeper into the world of social media with the launch of official social media accounts on Twitter and Facebook."

The CIA describes itself as: “We are the Nation's first line of defense. We accomplish what others cannot accomplish and go where others cannot go”.

On the CIA website, CIA Director John O. Brennan posted on June 6, 2014:

“This week, the CIA expanded its social media presence with the launch of official social media accounts on Twitter and Facebook.

Follow us on Twitter @CIA and on Facebook for the latest CIA updates, #tbt (Throwback Thursday) photos, reflections on intelligence history, and fun facts from the CIA World Factbook. You’ll also receive updates on CIA career postings and get the latest glimpse into CIA’s Museum - the best museum most people never get to see. Our social media expansion will put CIA.gov content right at your fingertips.

The launch expands CIA’s online presence, which already includes the Agency’s public website, CIA.gov and CIA.gov mobile, and official Flickr and YouTube accounts.

In the coming weeks, look out for other CIA.gov enhancements, including live streaming capabilities via Ustream.”

The CIA also showed a wicked sense of humor with an epic first tweet:




Epic branding!

(Image:The CIA logo at the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Va. (Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images)

posting under their name.

To Hate Or Not To Hate – That’s The Facebook App Question

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) recently launched a new app: "Hate with Friends". It allows Facebook users to “hate” their friends instead of removing them as a friend ( to “unfriend” them.

Once you as a Facebook user dislike one of your friends, you can hate that friend via the app. Once your friend hates you back, it shows on both your Facebook accounts.

By adding the app via the "Hate with Friends" website, you can build your very own hate list. You will see a button under each profile picture of your friends with the text "Hate-Him/Hate-Her".

With one click, your friend will be saved as your object of hate. Once your “friend” feels the same, Facebook will notify both of you about the mutual “hate”. It does not impact the friend status; both of you will still be Facebook friends.

Chris Baker developed the app for fun and explained that it should not be taken too seriously. He stated: “I think this anti-social stuff is the next big trend.”

It seems that a lot of Facebook users get the humor: the "Hate with Friends" site alone got already 6,000 Likes!

What do you think? Cool app or a waste of cyberspace?

Subway Foot-Long PR Nightmare

Once you make a claim – make sure you can stick to it. That’s the hard lesson that fast food chain Subway is learning. (Shame on its legal team!). Subway sells a sandwich called the “foot-long sub”. Needless to say it is suppose to be a food long.

As always, an overzealous customer popped up who ordered the sandwich and measured it. (Yes, we are talking about a male customer – pun intended).

 

Mr. Matt Corby of Perth (Australia) measured his food-long sub and found it to be 11 inches long. Needless to say, in this social media age he vented his outrage on Facebook, where he also posted a photo of his sub alongside the tape measure on the company's page with the caption: “Subway, please respond."

The page received more than 131,000 likes and thousands of comments, ranging from "I think they [Subway] owe us some," to "there are way more thing in life to worry about then 1 inch of sub."

The New York Post launched its own “investigation” and found that most New York Subways serve foot-long subs that are less than a foot. According to the NYP, four out of seven "five-dollar foot-longs" purchased at Subways in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, measured 11 or 11.5 inches.

Subway attributes the discrepancy in length to the fact that the bread is baked fresh daily in each of their 38,000 restaurants, which makes sense in my humble opinion. The chain went on to state that they are looking into the matter.

The company stated: "We are committed to providing a consistent product delivering the same amount of bread to the customer with every order. The length however may vary slightly when not baked to our exact specifications. We are reinforcing our policies and procedures in an effort to ensure our offerings are always consistent no matter which Subway restaurant you visit."

The story made the rounds and was picked up by major news outlets such as Fox.

How can Subway overcome this PR nightmare?

1. Check the reasons why one foot is not one foot, and post it on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
2. Issue a press release explaining the discrepancy and thanking Mr. Corby for his due diligence.
3. Make Mr. Crosby a Subway ambassador and award him perks.
4. Encourage customers to help improving products and service.
5. Last but most least: use humor! A funny video or picture will be a healthy antidote!