Political faux pas and social media

It”™s very easy to become well known online if you”™re a politician. All you need to do is make an incredibly stupid or insensitive statement.

When GOP representative Todd Akin from Missouri recently stated, “Victims of ”˜legitimate rape”™ don”™t get pregnant,” he ignited a firestorm on Twitter and became a trending topic in the United States and shortly thereafter in the United Kingdom. Traditional media, though late to react to this statement, subsequently began reporting on Akin”™s remark and continued silence. On an incredible side note, Akin serves on the House Science and Technology committee.

This sequence indicates several important aspects of social media and the increasing role it plays in political campaigns.

First, politicians must be much more careful about what they say. Outrageous statements that in the past were overlooked or simply ignored are now closely monitored for their content and sensitivity. Should the opportunity arise, these statements are rapidly transmitted and shared through social media by willing opponents and their supporters. In this instance, the office of Akin”™s opponent, Claire McCaskill, has already increased her number of tweets commenting on his statement and requesting donations to defeat him.

Second, politicians need to be more Internet savvy. While most politicians already have at least one staff member ghost posting on social media for them, they need to start getting personally involved with social media themselves. This will allow them to rapidly reach their constituents and target audience while also greatly aiding their public relations defense should an emergency situation ”“ possibly of their own doing ”“ arise. Just sitting quietly and hoping that the problem will disappear rarely works, particularly with social media and a highly polarized political environment.

Right now, social media is still dependent on traditional media to selectively report trending and popular online topics. If the volume of traffic on some topic is sufficiently loud or outrageous, it might be picked up and broadcast by traditional media to a much larger and more receptive audience. Although the receptivity of this response depends on the demographics ”“ most notably age ”“ by the next election, if current trends continue, increased social media interactivity by politicians will be a necessity.

All political parties are increasingly resorting to social media to highlight political gaffes. A recent ridiculous statement broadcast on traditional media, Vice President Joe Biden”™s statement that Mitt Romney will try to “put y”™all (Wall Street) back in chains” was immediately attacked both through traditional media and online, the latter primarily through a series of tweets. Biden”™s office, to its credit quickly moved to correct his mistake, though without issuing an apology.

It”™s not just that Facebook is approaching a billion subscribers and billions of tweets are being produced every few days, but rather the need for political campaigns and organizations to increasingly resort to social media for activities ranging from public relations to fundraising. Given the incredible cost of this anticipated $2 billion presidential campaign, social media is a huge bargain whose political power has only rarely been demonstrated. One such instance was when AOL bought The Huffington Post ”“ a 6-year-old liberal online newspaper ”“ for $315 million in early 2011, highlighting the rapid rise and importance of online news.

These political ramifications also raise an interesting question, though, and one which as a business person you must deal with every day: reputation management. What you say and what other people say about you can greatly help or hurt your reputation and business. If you own a restaurant, for example, how would a few bad ratings and comments affect your business? The same holds true for many professions, including doctors, attorneys and even plumbers. Think about this. Todd Akin, a congressman you probably never heard of, made an incredibly offensive statement that because of social media ”“ and maybe this article ”“ you are now aware of. Just hearing his statement can certainly affect your opinion of him and his beliefs or at the very least make you want to scrutinize him more closely. In the brief time he took to utter his statement, he inflicted significant damage on himself and his campaign.

Social media is a terrific and exciting environment that can greatly enable your business growth while branding you as an industry leader. However, it is also a double-edged sword. When you use social media, remember that for better or worse people are judging you by what you say and how you act. Be prepared to act quickly, if necessary, as it takes much less time to hurt a reputation than to build one.

Bruce Newman is the president of wwWebevents.com, a division of The Productivity Institute L.L.C. in Carmel.  He is a social media guru and a specialist on webinar creation and promotion.  Bruce is currently completing a comprehensive webinar training course, The Complete Webinar Training Course ”“ Everything you need to know to create and promote highly successful webinars, which will be available in late September.  He can be reached at bnewman@prodinst.com.