KimberMedia

Delete a Tweet and Risk Earning the Reputation of a Whitewasher

Posted by
in Social Media, Social Networks, Twitter
June 30, 2012

If you’re reading this you sure as heck know by now that the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its ruling on the Affordable Care Act earlier this week.

I’ve read the majority opinion. I don’t recommend it. It’s long and dense.

It says Congress can’t pass a law that forces you buy anything.

But, Congress can collect taxes. The majority ruled that the penalty for not having health insurance is a tax.

So the law stands (mostly). It’s constitutional.

I hear the famous quote “The big print giveth, the fine print taketh away” ringing in my ears. (This quote has been attributed to Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, who on the same day the Supremes ruled, was recognized by Pope Benedict XVI for his “heroic virtues,” the penultimate step toward sainthood.)

If you’re Wolf Blitzer, you really hear it ringing. The CNN anchor read the first part of the ruling and hastily announced to viewers that the Affordable Care Act had been struck down.

Some are calling this blunder the media screw-up that finally trumps the Chicago Tribune‘s 1948 “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline.

But Wolf was not alone.

The Sunlight Foundation caught 6 of the 435 politicians it monitors around the clock on Politwoops deleting their errant Tweets that the Law was unconstitutional.

Sometimes the cover-up is worse than the crime.

What’s the message?

Your Tweet can be read by any or all of Twitter’s 500 million users. So, slow down before you pull the trigger.

If you do misfire, consider just acknowledging your error rather than deleting it.

Even though it seems like no one will notice, someone might. It could earn you the reputation of someone who’s trying to buff up his image.

Kevin is a blogger and account manager with KimberMedia. And he’s a no slouch with WordPress. So he’s in on our website maintenance projects, too. Kevin has a long history as a project manager. He schemes, then gets things done. He’s a small business owner, an association executive, a registered lobbyist, a yoga teacher, a biologist and a word nerd. He likes to sing in the choir at church, travel, and laugh a lot. Google