The following came from a press release from a couple of years back;
“Drinking and driving remains the number one criminal cause of death in Canada. In Ontario, approximately one−quarter of all road fatalities are alcohol related. Over 16,000 people in Ontario are convicted criminally for drinking−and−driving−related offences.”
Police Services recognize the danger that drinking and driving poses to citizens. Between drink drive stop programs, RIDE programs, impaired by drug detection programs and many other intervention techniques law enforcement does a great deal to stay on top of drinking and driving.
This weekend Police no doubt will be ramping up efforts to protect people because of the SuperBowl. “If you drink, don’t drive.” is the common mantra. In fact, over the last couple of days I’ve seen the SuperBowl messages from department’s getting ramped up. The #DontDrinkAndDrive Tweets are flying!
The best so far that I have seen so far;
#SuperBowl #Party #DUI #Arrest #Jail #Unemployed #Broke #DontDrinkAndDrive
That Tweet tells a story doesn’t it?
But, while Tweeting your don’t drink and drive message is a good start, it almost seems like agencies are forgetting about everything else that they have at their disposal.
A Tweet alone doesn’t carry the depth of the message that you need to get across. Tell your audience the options and alternatives. Interview the owner of a cab company on YouTube. Put up a map of local hotels near your bar district. Put out links to your local transit providers. Links to your community safety, government or NGO’s that have specific information regarding drinking or drug impaired driving.
Pictures…pictures tell a thousand words so use them.
Give, give, give, give the information. Stop being lazy. In fact, your opportunity to make your own Superbowl Don’t Drink and Drive Commercial has passed, but that’s what you should have been thinking about.
Put out comparisons of the price of alternatives to the price of an Impaired or DUI Driving conviction. But don’t stop there…what about overlooked information like walking while intoxicated is extremely dangerous. Many pedestrians have been seriously injured or killed from walking, stumbling or falling into traffic.
Post your emergency and non-emergency numbers. The life you save could be your loved one.
Don’t just stop at #DontDrinkandDrive. You have way more to give, so give, give, give.
Hey, and if you see a great Tweet, FB post, PIN or Instagram pic, put it here in the comments and I’ll make sure to share it.
Pic courtesy of RIM Family Services rimfamilyservices.org
Warning: This post is not anything like you would normally read here. There is a little social media, there is a little police stuff but that is about it. Also, everything below is an allegation yet to be proven in court. In the case of opinionated bable by me…it’s just my opinion, unless it’s factual.
So Justin Bieber got himself arrested in Miami after street racing. Well done. Slow, long, golf clap for you my friend.
The charges as a result of his stunt?
DUI – Driving under the influence. Influence of what? Well according to the police report, weed, alcohol and RX drugs. Again…well done Biebs.
Resisting Arrest – The little ‘thug-life’ wannabe pulled away from the arresting officer as the attempt to handcuff him was made. Mind you, it was only a pull away so no Assault to resist was laid.
Driving with an expired driver’s licence
This is just the latest in a long line of the musical phenom’s mis-cues over the last year or so. Like the quote from the LA Times says below “He is on a path of destruction…”
“He’s on this path of destruction thinking there are no consequences, but the most grave consequences, of living here and pursuing his dream, is in jeopardy,” said Brian Claypool, a Pasadena-based attorney and TV analyst. LA TIMES
I’m sorry Mr. Claypool but pursuing his dream is in jeopardy??? Back the truck up for a moment. I was not aware that JB’s dream was to kill someone or himself. Don’t for a minute under-estimate the potential consequences of his actions. Don’t you dare put his musical career before the lives of innocent people. If the Canadian Kid wants to kill himself, fine. But, driving under the influence puts a lot more than his career on the line…it puts lives at risk. And to do it while street racing? Good lord…what are you thinking. But my issue here isn’t with Mr. Claypool or for that matter Justin Bieber.
I had the good fortune of being asleep when the news of this broke so I have had the opportunity to sit back and read a lot of comments and opinions on the matter and frankly I am disgusted with how some people…”adults” are treating this.
People are actually defending the little teen heart-throb.
Yes, yes, yes, yes!! I agree with all of the above but don’t you dare defend him and vilify anything else in your pursuit of not facing the facts!
This is not the fault of the media or social media. His decisions in this chain of events suck so perhaps you can blame that on the kid issue or the immature issue. But here is a kid that has everything he could want. He can afford to live any lifestyle he wants. He could have driver’s. He could rent a drag strip in burn rubber all he wants on a closed, built for speed, safe environment. But HE CHOOSE to do it in public. On public roads!! Shame on anyone who is defending him for this.
“I’m glad social media wasn’t around when I was a kid…I’ve done some pretty stupid things.” Yes, you probably have. Not many of us haven’t. But then again, not many of us are role models that young kids look up to and idolize!! Some of those people who are blaming social media for the Bieber backlash have built their own reputations and lives, becoming local cult heroes on the back of social media. How hypocritical is it to blame the very tool that has allowed you some level of fame or notoriety.
As Scott Stratten very poetically said:
“Social media is just an amplifier. It amplifies who you are.” @unmarketing
Social is simply amplifying what Justin Bieber has become. A WANNABE THUG. He has surrounded himself with people lately that have no interest in his reputation, his values or his position in the lives of many very impressionable kids. Just look at the role one of those people in his life has allegedly played…
“Sources familiar with the situation tell us … 38-year-old Jeremy Bieber was not only present when Justin was arrested early Thursday morning … he was one of the people who helped block off the residential street so his son could drag race.” TMZ
Does Bieber deserve the simplistic yet incredibly important truth that he is innocent until proven guilty? Yes, he most certainly does. But if we continue to make excuses for him in the face of behaviour that has led straight to this then we might as well give him a pass on this.
I wonder…if you or a loved one have been impacted by the results of a drunk driver how would you feel if you were reading about this kids actions if he were not Justin Bieber? Probably not taking the stance of defending him or justifying his actions.
Stop looking at the person and start looking at the act. He put lives at risk. He was a foul-mouthed little kid that showed an incredible amount of entitlement when facing the authorities.
“Bieber briefly sat on top of a black Cadillac Escalade, where he waved to screaming fans, before he was chauffeured away.” CNN
Final thought…as a dad of two daughters I have to look at it this way now when judging this kid; Would I want my daughters to be dating him or idolizing him?
NOT A FREAKING CHANCE!!!
I’ve been fascinated with the metrics and breakdowns of what makes a Tweet successful for a long time. To know how to tweet is one thing but to understand time of day, time zone, number of hashtags to use, where to put them…this is the kind of stuff that I find fascinating.
Yes…I am a bit of a nerd-geek. NEEK…is that been used before? Did I just create a new word? Let me know will you…all credit to the creator 🙂 Ugh, I digress…back to the post
So you’ll understand my excitement when a new study came out today from Simply Measured which analyzes the Q4 use of Twitter for top brands. Download it here.
How Top Brand Marketers Use Twitter Photo Credit :Simply Measured
Before I was done studying the report, my Twitter stream was alive with quotes and findings from the report.
Want to make your Tweets resonate with more people which translates into more engagement and shares? Add a picture to the Tweet…pretty simple stuff and obvious. Here is something though that you may not have thought about…add a link and pic!
From the report:
“Tweets that include photos AND links receive 150% more engagement.”
150% more engagement. That is a nice metric to shoot for.
How can you do this and add value?
You’re sitting around a meeting about crime prevention and the speaker is talking about everything they are doing to reduce crime. BORING!
Then the speaker shows a slide of damage caused to a property. INTERESTING!
You then get the idea to write a post for your local newspaper or blog or email subscriber list and include the picture with the story! EXCITING!
Finally, you take the link to the article and craft a Tweet about your boring crime prevention meeting but instead of just relying on the picture in the story, you actually add the image to your Tweet as well. Link + Image = AWESOME!!!
Want more engagement? Give your audience more to look at. A picture is worth a thousand words. Oh and please include tips for your audience to protect and insulate themselves from crime. That is the value…end user value. (Not yours). EPIC!
There are moments of learning in every experience. We can always do better than we have done before.
A recent story about a police officer in Pleasantville who posted some vile comments on his personal Facebook page got me to thinking once again about the importance of social media policies for police agencies.
I’ve said it many times that I don’t see the importance of creating a unique social media policy to deal with conduct issues. I know that sounds a little crazy, but here is my reasoning.
Social media platforms are in simplest terms, communication tools that provide different channels for sharing information. I’m going to guess that each and every agency has policies in place for dealing with communications. Computers, phone, fax, in person are all forms of communication that have governing policies, so why not just add social media to those existing policies? That seems to me the easiest way to help govern the use of social media platforms. Evidence, investigations, information sharing, conduct are all governed already. Any specific issues relating to those breaches in the social space are covered. So is a specific social media policy required?
The logical answer is no. The blanket legal answer is yes. If you think you need a specific policy, then create one. But, from the dozens and dozens of social media firings, suspensions and discipline issues that I’ve seen over the last few years, I have never once seen social media as the problem.
Conduct is the problem.
No matter how many times you tell someone, “Don’t do anything stupid” stupid still occurs. That is a personnel problem, not a social media policy problem. If you have personnel breaching conduct policies, then you have an HR problem, not a social media problem.
Training
First and foremost, training is an issue that needs to be addressed. Sure we all know how the tools work in their basic form. What seems to be lacking for many is the intricacies of the tools. The awareness of how they really work on the deeper levels. If you are allowing your personnel to use the tools, then you have a responsibility to train your personnel properly.
Personal v Professional
There is no such thing in law enforcement or government employment as personal vs professional. You are always seen as your employment first. Just because the 1st Amendment protects speech, it doesn’t protect you from saying stupid things as a person and not have it reflect on you as a professional. If you think that anonymity is your saviour to be free and unfiltered, think again. People who have lived in the dark-web for their entire online lives have found out the hard way, mistakes are made, covers are blown and private becomes very public.
Personal becomes Professional
On several occasions, I have said things on my personal social media platforms that have been attributed to me as my professional capacity. I have even carried the disclaimer that, “Opinions and views are my own and not those of my employer.” That line is a protection for my employer, not for me. I know that it is a meaningless line that will afford me no protection at all if push ever came to shove.
Guidelines
Along with training, guidelines can provide some very valuable insight. Provide guidelines to your employees both for personal and professional use and then tale those guidelines and post them publicly. Transparency in this manner can work as a very powerful first level risk management tool. When your employees and the public are all aware of what is considered acceptable and approved it can create a good conscience that hovers in the back of the mind of your employees always.
Social media is a powerful system of tools that when used properly can provide many great benefits to professionals. They can also torpedo you if used improperly.
Policies can help, guidance will help, training is essential.
I had a great opportunity to talk with Amber MacArthur about police using social media. I would tell you where to fast forward to but there are a couple of great apps that are discussed first and one of them, I just installed because of travelling issues!
http://bcove.me/le1kqipv
(Disclaimer – any mention / attribution to my employer were post production credits with no personal control by me.)
Never leave yourself saying this. Photo credit: ColtMonday.com
It’s been a few days since Justine Sacco rocked the communications world with her rather interesting Tweet. There isn’t any sense in reposting it as it is no longer a story for the world. It has become an after thought and a memory. Like most of the high-profile stories that are born in social, it’s life was short.
What remains are the many questions. I believe Tim Smith described it best as, “Why would anyone commit jobocide.” I love that term. Aptly put, as well since it did not take long for IAC to release her from her position and issue a statement denouncing the Tweet.
But, let’s be realistic…why did it take that Tweet to put Ms. Sacco’s job in jeopardy? If anyone had the opportunity to read her stream before the Twitter account was deleted you could smell smoke.
While the world waited for the question, “#HasJustineLandedYet?” to be answered, I honestly help out hope that this was not actually her that made the offending remark. But, deep down, I think I knew after reading the rest of her timeline.
Having been in a position responsible for monitoring accounts of an organizations feeds, I know that sick feeling in your gut you get when you see a comment that doesn’t speak well of the person’s decision-making or their pedigree. I don’t mean the type of comments that question an organizations structure or an honest criticism that has respect and merit built into it. I mean the hair on the back of your neck stands up and your Spidey senses start tingling kind of remark.
I know I’ve made remarks on official and unofficial channels that have raised the eyebrows of people. I’ve been challenged on them and when I have over-stepped, I’ve pulled back the offending remarks. Remember, you as the one delivering the remarks may not see the offence, but others may. I have also stood my ground and held fast to comments that I have made when I was in the right and the best those that challenged me could say was, “We just don’t say that.” I find that the best question to ask in those instances is, “Why?” Try it. You will really find thought leaders by doing so.
Either way, I have always known that someone else is always watching which is a great form of personal risk management.
Where were the checks and balances with Ms. Sacco? Where was the risk management? Was no one watching what she was saying on her personal account? Probably not…after all, she was the communication and PR boss for her company. She should have been the safest person you had at the controls. Still, I’m sure someone had to have seen something, somewhere, at some time.
In professional communications, especially for the tax payers, there are always eyes. Not everyone will agree with you. Not everyone will see things your way. Mature, respectful dialogue can usually sort those problems out when they occur.
But, if you ever add vulgar, rude, disrespectful, inflammatory remarks to your thoughts or opinions…you’ll always lose.
There are still many questions that remain to be answered about the event that Ms. Sacco created and perhaps in time, she will herself present those answers. Although she has apologized;
“Words cannot express how sorry I am, and how necessary it is for me to apologize to the people of South Africa, who I have offended due to a needless and careless tweet,”
the questions still remains.
Why?
I hope that when and if she does, she will be given an opportunity to do so with respect. Not what occurred that night when the venom that exists within many people was gave rise in death threats and comments that were worse than the original.
In the future when something like this happens…and it will, be better than the originator. Be greater than the weak-minded or the anonymous. Be proud that you can rise above and be fair while you wait for the response.
Related post: How to make Twitter explode (Justine Sacco)
Why did BuzzFeed & Co Target Justine Sacco
Holy crap…you want to see Twitter explode in negative feedback? Try making a Tweet like this…
@JustineSacco 10:19am from Hillingdon, London
OK…so this is an ignorant piece of work that no one should give the time of day to and should just be ignored right? Maybe, maybe not…let’s look closer.
Head of CorpComms at IAC??? WTH
OK…so she is a professional communicator for IAC, InterActiveCorp. Google also has her listed as the head of PR for IAC. Well, since she is the head of PR, I will assume that she has an awesome plan in place for this type of instant crisis communications that she has just created.
Google also has all the latest and greatest blog posts that have gotten all fired up in the 7 hours since the faux pas. Click here for the highlights
So, lets consider this for a minute before we jump to conclusions.
I don’t know why anyone in her position would even think this would be funny. Perhaps she has a quiet account that she expresses herself with and this was a “Down the wrong pipe” tweet.
I took a close look at her account and this isn’t the first tweet that I would consider in bad taste or reprehensible for someone in her position. London, England; The President; Miley Cyrus, her landlord and Rob Ford, never mind that last one…all the others should be offended as well.
So here is my question. Is this actually the real account of Justine Sacco? Maybe I’m naive, but I’m going to lean towards…NO. I may be way out in left field on this one, but I think this maybe more of a spoof account that has it in for her.
Which leads me to a bigger question. If this isn’t her account, why in God’s name (sorry A&E) does she not have a rein on what’s going on with her name?
She is a PR pro, communications pro, company rep…she should have alerts out the ying-yang set up to protect her from this type of thing..or at least be aware of them and have some sort of disclaimer in place, perhaps on her corporate profile what her official accounts are. It is that big of a deal!
I called her phone number at IAC and her cell number. No answer on either and her mail box is full on her cell (no big surprise there.) I want to know what the deal is.
We may not know for a while (at least until she lands in Africa and she finds herself out of a job), but for now we have to wait. According to IAC; (via International Business Times)
“This is an outrageous, offensive comment that does not reflect the views and values of IAC. Unfortunately, the employee in question is unreachable on an international flight, but this is a very serious matter and we are taking appropriate action.”
I can’t wait to see where this one ends up.
Takeaways:
Stay tuned to this one!
UPDATE: 10:50pm Eastern Time:
I can’t say anything more than what Peter Shankman just did…perfect!
Well said!
UPDATE: 7:00am Eastern Time
I think I was completely off base in my hopes that Justine was a victim. There may be some evidence now that indeed she may be the brainless moron that her Tweets identify her as…
Justine Sacco doesn’t exist
According to Deadline Hollywood… Justine has been removed from the corporate information of IAC as well.
Why do I think all of this is such a big deal? Well that’s pretty obvious, the same reason(s) why everyone else doe, but there is more here. Why should every CEO be concerned about this type of thing happening…just use this time line…
Down 2%
