火领导:Twitter, Funerals, and Loyalty

Recently, one of our social media interns noticed a tweet by a well-known fire service author and, following his lead, retweeted the same post as “Fire Engineering.” The post was in many respects uncomplimentary to my good friends at the International Society for Fire Service Instructors (ISFSI) and other fire service groups that I respect greatly. The post’s writer has every right to his opinion regardless of the fact that I don’t agree with it or the motives it ascribed to my friends. I was informed of the Society’s displeasure of the retweet by the president of the ISFSI in a very polite and sophisticated way. He accepted my explanation and relayed it to the board members, who understandably felt Fire Engineering had turned against them or failed to support their efforts.

This is an example of how dangerous and explosive social media can be in large part because of our emotional responses to things that damage or assault our character and self-image. It highlights how easy it is for someone to innocently participate in social media and have potentially caused tremendous harm without any ill motives whatsoever. Egos and emotions are fragile; we all have them, and we all react when we are assaulted and offended and especially when that offense comes from an organization or a person we thought cared about us and had our best interests in mind.

My friends are not the only ones who have had an experience with an organization offending them online as a result of the actions of an intern or employee representing that organization. My uncle died in New York recently; my sister was in DC, so she booked an American Airlines (AA) flight to JFK Airport. I was in DC on business and got the same flight so we could travel together to the wake. I got the last seat. As I was on the bus going to the plane, my sister texted me that she was taken off the flight at the gate. They didn’t announce the flight was overbooked or ask for volunteers to get off; they stopped my sister at the door and told her that her seat was broken, but she told them that wasn’t true-she saw them assign her seat to the guy in line beside her. Then they told her, “You bought the last seat.” No, she told them, my brother did. Then they said it was a random computer choice; after a few minutes, they told her it was because she had the lowest fare.