Beware what you tweet

Last week, the journalists and PRs on Twitter were abuzz after games publisher Take2 parted company with public relations firm The Redner Group following an ill-thought tweet from its founder: http://bbc.in/mF6jEj.

As someone who has worked in PR for over 11 years (yes that long!) it did get me thinking how much the industry has changed over the years – how many of us had heard of Twitter over 5 years ago, let alone consider it to be an influential communications channel?  But at the same time it did further strengthen the view that a personal and intelligent approach to media relations is still very much central to the success of any PR programme.

Clearly, not every journalist is not going to like every product every time, besides which it would make life somewhat boring (albeit easier!). However, to simply go and publically criticise a number of publications en-masse due to bad reviews is surely a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Whereas back in the day it was a case of watch what you say on the phone as a PR, in today’s connected online world it is now also a case of watching what you write.  As recent events have shown it is never quite as simple as deleting a spur of the moment tweet!