Heresy. Back in the year 1022 it was a scary time, you had to watch what you said and did as the Church was all powerful, if you were part of the Church and you said the wrong thing - you could be labeled a “Heretic”. Then the next thing you know, your life could be getting a little warm as they burnt you on a stake. The powers at the time soon discovered this labeling could be a good thing to get rid of enemy’s, get other people’s property even their wives. So all of sudden accusing anybody of being a Heretic was the norm for getting even or disposing of the opposition.
It was popular as they could burn 200 at a time, all you need do was accuse and then it was up to the accused to prove they were innocent, bit hard though as they were usually tortured and the only way to stop the pain was to admit guilt.
In 1692 in a place called Salem they had the famous Witch Trials, same process you could be accused of being a Witch and then you had to prove you were not, usually torture was put in place and the only way yet again to stop the pain was screaming, “I am a Witch” this would stop the pain but yep you guessed it, once again your “confession” would book you for a final appointment with a stake to hold you up, whilst they fire quickly toasted you.
What’s the point I’m making here? Well, unlike a lot of my blogs this one is totally serious. If we fast forward to 2016 we have a new brand of heresy accusation and global Salem witch trials. Yes, folks we have death by Facebook.
Death of personal or business reputation is a big and scary issue, and like heresy and the witch trails no need for proof, all that is needed is a post on a Facebook Page or a 140 character tweet!
Upset customers back in the day would call you, visit you, write a letter. Not now baby, boom Facebook post, share with friends of friends and faster than a duck’s digestive system the world will know, “You did me wrong.”
Disgruntled employee, jealous opposition? No need for any long term plotting. With just a Wi-Fi connection and a smartphone, boom they have got you in all sorts of trouble.
The scary part? Like Heresy and the Witch Trials none of what is posted has to be true, what will be the torture? Usually finding out the post or tweet has been around for days and worst case has gone viral and you have been wondering, “Where did the customers go?”
Yes, it does suck, and yes it’s not fair but I reckon the people smelling BBQ on the stake were saying exactly the same thing.
So what is a Guy or Gal to do? Well, first up we have to realize that this sort of thing is here to stay, we also have to finally let the penny drop that Social Media is a critical part of our business planning, it’s no longer something that we set up and forget, post when it’s our anniversary. We need to monitor and manage FB pages and Twitter.
It’s called Reputation Management, and either do it yourself as part of your daily chores or you pay somebody to do it, but like a having CCTV, Burglar Alarm, Fire Extinguishers and PC Virus Protection it is best to be safe than forever sorry.
As sadly, unlike the times of Heresy, or the Salem Witch Trials? Death by Facebook is not going away.
Hugs from TheCamel.
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