I thought we were all taught this growing up. Part of good manners or at the very least part of being tactful. Apparently, not everyone and the plethora of new tools to share what you are thinking (ie, status updates) makes this even more visible. Tools that allow you to broadcast (blogs, Twitter, etc.) must be used consciously meaning you need to think about what you share and be aware when you may step on toes. It is your prerogative to do so but understand the world could be listening.

Take the story of James Andrews of Ketchum as an example (thanks to my brother Greg for forwarding this along). Ketchum is a pretty substantial PR firm and one I have worked with in the past. James was headed to FedEx to do a presentation on social media and decided to share his thoughts about Memphis via Twitter when he landed.

"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."


Turns out he was already being followed by someone at FedEx and they shared this observation among the executive ranks there kicking off a bit of a firestorm.
The irony is overflowing here including the fact that he is an executive at a public relations firm and that he was there to share his expertise on social media.

If you don't have something nice to say…