How a PR Executive Put Her Foot in Her Mouth and Got Booted Thanks To Her Racist Tweet

Justine Sacco worked as the communications director at IAC/InterActiveCorp. (NASDAQ:IACI).

IAC runs popular websites such as www.ask.com, www.about.com, www.match.com, www.dictionary.com, investopedia.com, www.dictionary.com, www.vimeo.com and the Tinder app.

A graduate from Tulane University with a BA in Philosophy, she started her career in 2005 at Dan Klores Communications, followed by working for about a year at The Morris + King Company before moving on to World Wrestling Entertainment. Since 2011, she was working for IAC as a (Senior) Director Corporate Communications in NYC.

Her career ended with one fatal tweet. On her way to South Africa, she tweeted:

"Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!"

The tweet created a firestorm. InterActive Corp decided to fire Ms. Sacco, stating:
"There is no excuse for the hateful statements that have been made and we condemn them unequivocally. We hope, however, that time and action, and the forgiving human spirit, will not result in the wholesale condemnation of an individual who we have otherwise known to be a decent person at core."

The now jobless Sacco went on record saying that she was "ashamed" and released the following apology:

"Words cannot express how sorry I am, and how necessary it is for me to apologize to the people of South Africa, who I have offended due to a needless and careless tweet. There is an AIDS crisis taking place in this country, that we read about in America, but do not live with or face on a continuous basis. Unfortunately, it is terribly easy to be cavalier about an epidemic that one has never witnessed firsthand. For being insensitive to this crisis -- which does not discriminate by race, gender or sexual orientation, but which terrifies us all uniformly -- and to the millions of people living with the virus, I am ashamed. This is my father's country, and I was born here. I cherish my ties to South Africa and my frequent visits, but I am in anguish knowing that my remarks have caused pain to so many people here; my family, friends and fellow South Africans. I am very sorry for the pain I caused."

Personally, I am amazed that a 30-year-old PR professional with her track record could be that stupid in her use of social media.

What are the lessons we can learn?

Everything is on the record

In social media, there is no separation between personal and professional posts – and everything is on the record. If your grandmother would frown upon the content of your post or your worst enemy could use it against you – don’t post!

Be careful with humor

Social media are global, so any joke or "funny" remark you make can be hold against you by minorities or people from different backgrounds, cultures or countries. Be respectful, and in case of doubt, cut the concept out (delete, erase, and empty trash)

React quickly and sincerely

Once you post, it’s a fait accompli. The best thing to do is to apologize – but be sincere! The long and babbling apology of Sacco just does not cut it.

Remember – time is against you, so have to react quickly. Just look at the Duck Dynasty controversy where it took Phil Robertson too long to react.

PR professionals need to be nonstop online

When you work in PR, you need to be online 24/7. Knowledge is indeed power! Part of Sacco’s’ problem was that she was flying (and therefore incommunicado) when all hell broke loose. When unavailable, there are several steps you can take to prevent disaster, such as having a colleague read and tweet on your behalf.

Take care of a proper follow up

Apart from apologizing, Sacco should also follow up with action. In her case, volunteering is a AIDS hospice would be perfect. Assuming that she wants to work in PR ever again, she should write articles (“what I learned from my appropriate tweet” or “The tweet that launched a thousands backlashes”). She also needs to beef up her LinkedIn profile – only one official recommendation is pathetic!

Be aware that you are tainted – and deal with it

Once you’ve reached the level of notoriety of Justine Sacco, you’re tainted. Any web search on “Justine Sacco” does not yield her LinkedIn profile, but coverage of her controversial tweet. Unless she counterbalances it with articles and posts to explain the crisis and how to follow up, she will be toast. Making a public donation or volunteering are excellent ways as well to do damage control.

Corporations need to monitor their employees

It might smell like 1984, but corporations need to monitor what their employees post on Twitter and Facebook as well as (to a lesser extent) on LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram.

A post can harm the brand of a company and even have repercussions if that company is a public one listed on the NYSE or NASDAQ.

How to Tweet Wisely

Is Twitter just for people who can’t shut up? Many tweets are irrelevant, and it takes some digging to get to the good stuff. That way, it’s not any different from looking for a good book. Between shelves of Dan Brown fluff, there are literary gems such as “The Perfume”, “Madame Bovary” and “To Kill A Mockingbird”.

Companies (and individuals) can of course choose never to send a tweet into cyberspace. But the problem is that companies will be left behind and their competitors will have the competitive edge.

Tweets are short (140 characters) and resemble sms-speak (not surprising, considering the original twitter concept) and have huge marketing potential.

Following is a short guide to tweeting (courtesy of www.ReputationManagementFor.com with some of my own additions).

1/ Tweeting
When you tweet, you’re sending a message to all of your followers (see 2/) and displaying the message on your Twitter Feed (a list of your tweets). Now, it’s extremely important that you bear a few things in mind when tweeting, as you can end up wasting a lot of time for zero productivity. Don’t over-tweet, but don’t tweet sparingly either. A Tweet a week does not an interest garner. These are some important things you’ll need to keep in mind while tweeting:

• Don’t treat Twitter like an SEO exercise. Nobody cares for unexplained, uninteresting links, and if all you’re doing is linking back to your website, people will generally ignore you.
• Don’t make ridiculous spelling mistakes. Tweets are only 140 characters long, and typos and other errors will reflect badly on your company. Spell it right; sell it right.
• Try not to be too personal, or emotional. You’re marketing your brand, and while that doesn’t mean you should be robotic, attention-seeking will ultimately reflect badly.
• Develop your own style, but unless you’re a professional comedian don’t make every post into a joke.
• Make sure to hashtag important keywords in your tweet (see 4/).

Ideally, every time you tweet you want your followers to re-tweet (RT) your posts. That way, you are reaching the followers of your followers.

2/ Following
When you follow somebody on Twitter, it means that you’re going to automatically get updated with every tweet of that user. You can opt to get as many people to follow you as possible, or to expand your brand awareness and market influence to targeted users (journalists, institutes, bloggers, magazines, etc.).

The easiest and simplest way getting followers is to include obvious links to your Twitter account on your website, and any email correspondence you send out. If you don’t tell people to look for your Twitter account, you’re relying on people looking for you speculatively, and that can be a slow process. Also, you can enter your contact list from GMail, AOL, MSN, Hotmail and Yahoo! accounts to see if the people you already speak to use Twitter. Following people you know on Twitter will encourage them to follow you.

3/ @Mentions
If you have a look at your “homepage” on Twitter, you can see a few tabs below the Tweet box. One of these tabs says ‘@Mentions’. A @Mention is when somebody puts a ‘@’ sign, followed immediately by a username. When somebody @Mentions you in a Tweet, it’ll show up both on their Tweet Feed and on your @Mentions page (which your followers can’t see. A @Mention is useful:

• to engage other users who are not in contact with yet. They’re then more likely to return the favor.
• if you’re Tweeting their material. Their details do show up on a RT, but a @Mention will show gratitude and let the person know you’re passing on their content/posts.
• when tweeting original content. Start the post with “RT” and end it with @yourtwittername. .It makes it easier for people to find you and associate your Twitter account with the content being (re)tweeted.

4/ The #Hashtag
While we have already mentioned that this shouldn’t be an SEO exercise, that doesn’t mean that none of the same principles apply. The #hashtag is the king of Social Media Optimization – an opportunity to make use of ‘keywords’. People searching Twitter for posts on specific subjects will generally find #tagged posts first. Tips to use #hashtags:

• If you want to talk about a #subject, #location or #person (without linking to their Twitter account), use the #hashtag.
• A #hashtag can be used to emphasize a specific part of your tweet, and generally adds context to any content or comments you might be posting.

Twitter posts show up in Google search results. Although it is unlikely that a Twitter post will outperform a highly contested keyword by normal SEO standards, a clever campaign on a specific subject will get attention.

5/ Trending
Twitter keeps track of when a term (or #term) is being used a lot on Twitter. It records Trends that appear by geographical demographic, and a general worldwide tracker. Thus, if a #term (with or without the #hashtag) is popular in e.g., the US; users who’ve set up their “Trend Feed” to the US will automatically see a list of the “Trending Topics” for that country. Users can also click on a topic that is trending (e.g. budget cuts).

There are many innovative ways to turn social networking and social media profitable for business. On your Twitter homepage, you can link to your own website. You can also add Twitter to your website homepage. Your tweets will now automatically be displayed.

6/ Shortened Links
As mentioned before, tweets are limited to 140 characters. Most website links (e.g., to articles you RT) take up a lot of character space. To solve this problem, there are several free services around that automatically shorten your links. The most popular are tinyURL and bit.ly.

Wishing you Happy Tweeting!

(Cartoon courtesy of Johnny Ancich of Past Expiry)