Category: Social media

When heads roll …

Posted on by Brian Lee

Someone tweeting for @KitchenAidUSA posted “Obamas gma even knew it was going 2 b bad! ‘She died 3 days b4 he became president’. #nbcpolitics” during the debate. It was immediately taken down and replaced with this apology: “Deepest apologies for an irresponsible tweet that is in no way a representation of the brand’s opinion. #nbcpolitics”

This is not an excuse, but it’s likely this was an accident. Someone tweeted using the company account instead of their personal account. However, the repercussions are mounting. Within an hour, both Adweek and Mashable had stories on this.

The best thing for KitchenAid to do is explain what happened, then fire the person (or have the agency fire the person) who tweeted it. Someone needs to be held accountable. If no one is punished for this, then KitchenAid deserves to keep getting its ass kicked in the social media world.

No punishment is like KitchenAid saying this incident was acceptable, and that it doesn’t mind insensitive jokes (no matter which side of the aisle you’re on, the tweet was still out of place).

Update:

New tweets from @KitchenAidUSA:

“Hello, everyone. My name is Cynthia Soledad, and I am the head of the KitchenAid brand.”

“I would like to personally apologize to President @BarackObama, his family and everyone on Twitter for the offensive tweet sent earlier.”

“It was carelessly sent in error by a member of our Twitter team who, needless to say, won’t be tweeting for us anymore.”

“That said, I take full responsibility for my team. Thank you for hearing me out.”

Creepiest Facebook App Ever

Posted on by Katelyn Youngblood

Not many people my age agree with me, but there are times when I think social media has gone too far. Case in point: the Facebook app If I Die.

This app allows you to record a message to send to your family, loved ones, and most importantly, your Facebook friends. Once your death has been confirmed it sends out your prerecorded message to your Facebook friends or posts what you have written to be your last status.

In theory I think this isn’t a strange idea. For those with a terminal illness it might be a useful way of saying goodbye, and people have been writing their loved ones goodbye letters for years. In today’s world, wanting to spread your final words to your timeline seems like a natural progression.

What really gets to me is the app’s new campaign, If I Die 1st.  Essentially, the company has teamed with various outlets and is offering to promote and share the parting words of the first person to die. Morbid, right?

Not only do I think it’s a bad idea to basically encourage people to be the first to die (imagine the problems that could arise with suicide attempts), but it’s the way in which the campaign’s video does it that really makes me uncomfortable.  The video highlights the need for fame, and since most of us won’t be conventionally famous, what’s a better way to make it happen than by having your dying words spread all over the internet?

The video itself is especially creepy, practically glorifying death and positioning the first person to die as the “winner” (Fun Fact: their website has a running total of Facebook deaths since August 2012, along with the estimated time of death of the winner).  When did our society decide that dying in order to broadcast your message to the world via social media was acceptable? I’m sorry, can’t we all just focus on living?

Creepiest Facebook App Ever

Posted on by Brian Lee

Not many people my age agree with me, but there are times when I think social media has gone too far. Case in point: the Facebook app If I Die.

This app allows you to record a message to send to your family, loved ones, and most importantly, your Facebook friends. Once your death has been confirmed it sends out your prerecorded message to your Facebook friends or posts what you have written to be your last status.

In theory I think this isn’t a strange idea. For those with a terminal illness it might be a useful way of saying goodbye, and people have been writing their loved ones goodbye letters for years. In today’s world, wanting to spread your final words to your timeline seems like a natural progression.

What really gets to me is the app’s new campaign, If I Die 1st.  Essentially, the company has teamed with various outlets and is offering to promote and share the parting words of the first person to die. Morbid, right?

Not only do I think it’s a bad idea to basically encourage people to be the first to die (imagine the problems that could arise with suicide attempts), but it’s the way in which the campaign’s video does it that really makes me uncomfortable.  The video highlights the need for fame, and since most of us won’t be conventionally famous, what’s a better way to make it happen than by having your dying words spread all over the internet?

The video itself is especially creepy, practically glorifying death and positioning the first person to die as the “winner” (Fun Fact: their website has a running total of Facebook deaths since August 2012, along with the estimated time of death of the winner).  When did our society decide that dying in order to broadcast your message to the world via social media was acceptable? I’m sorry, can’t we all just focus on living?