Social media has become a PR nightmare for some. Instead of carefully planning answers to bridge to in interviews and crafting speeches reflecting thought leadership, it is now possible to make a serious media mistake with the push of the button.
Photo Courtesy of CNBC.com
Elon Musk is the most recent example of having a lack of communication skills leading to tweeting without thinking.
According to the New York Times, Mr. Musk sent out the tweet, referencing marijuana culture (420), in hopes of making his girlfriend, at the time, laugh.
The tweet resulted in a costly lawsuit brought on by the Securities and Exchange Commission in which Mr. Musk was accused of lying to investors.
The lawsuit ended in a $20 million settlement from Mr. Musk personally, and $20 million more from Tesla for its failure to monitor Mr. Musk’s communications. But how is a company to manage such a powerful loose canyon? The fiasco resulted in Mr. Musk’s agreement to step down as Tesla’s Chairman.
Media coaching anyone?
Last July, British cave explorer Vernon Unsworth assisted in the heroic cave rescue of all 12 trapped members of a soccer team and their coach. After Mr. Unsworth criticized Mr. Musk’s proposal to use a small submarine to rescue the trapped boys in Thailand, Mr. Musk accused Mr. Unsworth, of pedophilia.
According to Fortune, Mr. Musk also asserted by email that Mr. Unsworth moved to a location in Thailand because of a “child bride” who was “12 years old at the time.” And that the area he moved to was better known for “child sex-trafficking” than for cave diving.
There was no evidence to back up Mr. Musk’s wild claims. Tesla’s share price dropped 4% after this accusation. And Mr. Musk, himself, received major backlash over the tweet. CNBC reports that lawsuits for libel and slander have been filed.
With the speed and ease in which Twitter and Facebook publish information, it is important to remember what Charles Dickens wrote in his 1850 classic, David Copperfield. “Least said, soonest mended!”