As most of you know, the presidential debate was this past Wednesday. Punches were thrown from each candidate and many laughs were shared (especially over Romeny’s Big Bird comment). But when Obama discussed his late grandmother and how she could be independent because of Social Security and Medicare, someone at KitchenAid had a different opinion on the matter. An employee tweeted a careless and hurtful tweet in regards to Obama’s grandmother, which caused some Twitter mayhem. The head of KitchenAid (Cynthia Soledad) took quick action and sent out tweets to not only various media outlets but also Obama himself. She concluded that this tweet did not reflect the brand.
I think it is safe to say KitchenAid learned a valuable lesson from this “tweetaster” as well did other brands and social media accountants. It’s unsure whether this KitchenAid employee thought he or she was on their personal account but it doesn’t change what happened. I will be the first to say how overly obsessed people with linked accounts need to be when it comes to status updates and tweets. I currently have my internship’s Facebook account linked to my personal account and I am always rechecking to make sure I am on my personal account.
Nevertheless, if this linked accounts mishap was not the case, then KitchenAid learned a valuable lesson in crisis communication. In my opinion, brands and companies need to be prepared for the worst case scenario and I do think KitchenAid took the correct steps to solving the crisis. Not only was the tweet removed, but the head of KitchenAid immediately sent out apologies and contacted media outlets to tell her side of the story. And if that wasn’t enough, she also stated that the disastrous tweeter no longer worked for the brand. She took the necessary steps of cleaning up the crisis and ended up gaining more than 1,000 followers on Twitter.
From this “tweetaster” I think we all saw the negative effects of incorrect brand tweeting but saw the positive effects of having a crisis communication plan. And hey, I’m sure KitchenAid doesn’t hate the fact that their follower count went up either!
Samantha Harty 
I definitely agree with you. During my internship, I was also responsible for taking care of the social media accounts. Like you, I had to constantly check to see which account I was signed in with. This example of a inappropriate tweet just goes to show how detrimental a bad tweet, or post, can be. I agree that KitchenAid did a good job of cleaning up after the incident. KitchenAid has had a lesson that they will be able to learn from for years to come. These types of incidents happen all the time, and I think, like you said, that companies should have something set up just in case it does. It will make their job easier to have a plan in place, and in the long run, it will make them look like a company who is on their toes. It is unfortunate that they had to learn this lesson the hard way.
I totally understand where you are coming from. I also have worked from companies on their social media, and you do have to be really conscious of which account you are posting on. But really, I don’t find it that difficult to be honest, I have the tendency to believe that occurrences like this happen when people are not really paying attention or they are not taking the time they should to create quality content. Now I do understand that social media needs to be written and posted quickly, especially during a live tweet event like the presidential debate, but there is no reason not to double and triple check before you post something, especially when making a mistake could cost you your job.
I agree with you that they handled their disaster as best they could, but it is interesting to me how often this sort of thing does happen. I feel like we are always talking about instances like this in class and you’d think brands would learn from others mistakes. I have never had to manage my internships social media accounts, but if i had i agree with Danielle that you need to double and triple check that because it is a huge responsibility. We have seen how detrimental to a brand’s image these situations can be. Did this employee ever get fired?
I agree that KitchenAid handled the situation appropriately with responding immediately. I think with this situation it is interesting that you stated KitchenAid gained 1000 new followers following this “tweetaster.” I think it is interesting because during the PR Social Media Summit, Augie Ray, discussed social media disasters and how they really do not exist. This situation shows that in that KitchenAid gained followers and instead of losing them. I think it is important that KitchenAid did express an apology following the incident.
I’m not in charge of the social media for any company but I for those who are, definitely need to be aware of whom he or she is posting on behalf of. This type of incident might not harm the company but it still has the potential to ruin a career.
I also think that Kitchenaid responding immediately was appropriate because it shows its followers that they are constantly updating and checking their twitter, staying connected with consumers. This is just another example of how companies need to be extremely careful when letting employees handle its social media sites.