social

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” Truer wisdom today than it ever was for business, as a company’s “firsts” can be easily discovered, digitally. For example, Twitter has a “First Tweet” tool that allows users to enter an @username to revisit that account’s first foray into the social platform. It’s interesting to see how well (or not) brands and personalities introduced themselves.

Popular social websites like Buzzfeed and Mashable promote whatever is new, including new arrivals to Twitter. This makes a business’s or individual’s first tweet an event – those 140 characters must be thought through and meticulously crafted. So let’s look back at how some of our favorite brands handled their first tweet and see what we can learn.

The “Fortune” Brand

These Twitter accounts are managed by a team of expert and creative communicators (we hope), ready to jump on the latest social event or hashtag, build brand advocacy at every turn and defend the company’s reputation when needed.

Mildly random. Aimed for maximum character count (139).

Nice to see Oreo got better. #youcanstilldunkinthedark

Happy. Hipster-ish. Explains what to expect.

Random introduction, and the link no longer works. Tsk tsk.

Simple, brief… Grammatical error, unfortunately, in the second sentence. “Check’n” is clever for the big bank, especially as a large business early adopter (2007).

The “Comedian” Brand

Public personalities (particularly comedians) understand their brand and reputation means everything. They’re probably personally generating content – if anything came across as not authentic, it would be called out immediately by their followers.

Yes. It’s Actually Neil Patrick Harris.

All Ellen…

…and this was too good to leave out. (We don’t follow Ellen and didn’t know her handle; this was our first search for it.)

Typical Jimmy Fallon, bashfully dipping his toes in, to test the water.

A+ for Jimmy Kimmel.

The “Parody” Brand

Good parody account writers/runners understand brand as well as trained corporate brand/marketing managers (and have an excellent sense of humor).

#LanguageNerds

This account could be ghost-written by Jesse Eisenberg. It has his cadence.

Sad Paul Giamatti is a consistent, depressed minimalist. It’s brilliant.

Nailed it.

The “Anti-Brand” Brand

This post wouldn’t be complete without an example of the “anti-brand” account. These are run by individuals who launch accounts with one goal: tarnish a company’s image. Their first post(s) need to create a buzz immediately to have an impact… and business needs to pay attention because these posters can be tireless (at least until the event fades into memory).

(If you’re a brand anarchist, remember: quality does matter.)

Try it and share your favorites (good or not-so-good)!

Information moves fast between journalism and social media
Prudence, good judgement and fact-checking still matter – it’s not about who gets it first, but who gets it right

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There is an often used quote that involves a lie, the truth, traveling the globe and either pants or shoes…I forgot which. The point of drawing on this quote involves two recent news events surrounding:

Paul Krugman – American economist, professor and op-ed columnist for The New York Times
Elisabeth Hasselbeck, co-host of the daytime talk show The View

These individuals were victims of misinformation. With Krugman, news of the economist’s bankruptcy began as satire and was quickly picked up as a legitimate story by major news outlets, where it then spread like wildfire. For Hasselbeck, a rumor she was dismissed for doing her job emerged after the announcement of her co-host’s resignation; it was almost immediately rebuffed by her boss, Barbara Walters. In both circumstances, it seems like the stories were too delicious and salacious to be true. As it turns out: they were.

These stories demonstrate the dangerous, integrated grey area of online journalism and social media. The simple act of repeating, retweeting or reposting content prior to researching or fact-checking is too common. Omitting this exercise in the race to be first is irresponsible in professional communications.