Social Media Crisis Management, Weinergate, Politics, Football, and the Law

Does your company or client have a social media crisis management plan? Social media crisis management is not the same as traditional media crisis management. Social media is a different animal than traditional media and those who advise clients in the social media space must understand the legal, political, public relations, and economic effects, etc... of a social media crisis.

In a social media crisis management plan, a lawyer may play a central role within the social media crisis management team. The type of role that a lawyer plays in a social media crisis depends on the matter. Legal issues appear to be front and center in many of these situations so a lawyer may act in a capacity similar to a quarterback and/or a middle linebacker on a football team. Sometimes a lawyer must go on the offensive and act like Johnny Unitas to further his client's interests. At other times, a lawyer must act like Ray Lewis to defend his client's interests. A lawyer must have a multi-dimensional background and the social media skills, knowledge, and personality to handle the situation.

Last week, Congressman Anthony Weiner of New York was embroiled in a scandal due to his alleged social media usage. A photograph of a man in his briefs was sent from Congressman Weiner's Twitter account to a college student. Mr. Weiner initially acted like this matter was a prank and no big deal. Hacking into an email or social media account is not as uncommon as some may think and there are serious security loopholes in many online systems. For example, Sarah Palin's email account was hacked during the 2008 presidential campaign and the perpetrator was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for unauthorized access to a protected computer.

The alleged hacking of Mr. Weiner's Twitter account has been called "Weinergate" by some media outlets. The story would have died a natural death within a couple of days it first becoming public; however, Mr. Weiner could not say with "certitude" that the alleged inappropriate image that was sent from his Twitter account was not of him. In addition, Mr. Weiner did not ask for an official investigation into the matter by the proper authorities. It is very troubling that Mr. Weiner has not requested an official investigation into this matter.

Due to Mr. Weiner's initial handling of the matter, the story has mushroomed and has stayed in the news cycle for more than a week. I commented about this matter on MSNBC on June 1, 2011 during the noon hour. During my appearance on MSNBC, I stated that wire fraud and/or computer fraud may have occurred if Mr. Weiner's Twitter account or other electronic systems were hacked. In addition, I stated that Mr. Weiner should request an official investigation into the matter by the proper authorities.

At first glance, it sounds ridiculous to spend precious resources to investigate whether a congressman sent an inappropriate image from his Twitter account. Our country has better things to do with its time and money than to investigate whether a congressman is sending allegedly lewd images of himself to others online. However, during the past few weeks there have been some high profile cyber attacks against some of our country's largest companies and if Mr. Weiner's Twitter account and/or other electronic accounts were hacked it needs to be investigated to determine if there are any security vulnerabilities with Mr. Weiner's electronic congressional accounts.

Hacking may be considered a game or a prank by some people. In some instances, hackers are able to find and notify the public about legitimate computer security concerns. However, hacking should not be thought of as an innocent prank because some countries now have cyber warfare units and it is alleged that the U.S. may attack another country conventionally if it is attacked online.

As I am writing this post, it appears that this may not be the first time that inappropriate photos have been sent from an electronic account purportedly belonging to Mr. Weiner. Since it appears that Weinergate may have gotten some new steam it is imperative that Mr. Weiner get his social media crisis management team together immediately. Mr. Weiner may want to avoid Tiger Woods' and Brett Favre's social media crisis management mistakes. It is too late to follow David Letterman's playbook and immediately do a mea culpa; however, if the new allegations against Mr. Weiner are true he should come clean before this scandal destroys his political career and personal life.

To learn more about the legal issues that are intertwined with social media crisis management and how to handle a social media crisis you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.

Copyright 2011 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.

Social Media, Poor Choices, and Bad Advice Is Destroying Tiger's Ability to Recover From TigerSexgate

What is Tiger's legal, social media, and public relations team doing to stop the bleeding? So far, Team Tiger's strategy has been to duck and cover, and hope for the cavalry to arrive sooner rather than later. As General Custer found out, the cavalry doesn't always come in time to save you. The entire media and social media world, including the New York Post, US Magazine, and The Today Show, are circling and Tiger's response has been to go into seclusion and avoid everyone and everything in the hopes that TigerSexgate will somehow go away.

As I stated in a previous post, Tiger must be proactive during this time of crisis. Unfortunately, Team Tiger is in paralysis and unable to create an effective crisis response. On the home page of http://www.tigerwoods.com/ it should state in big bold letters "I am Sorry" and Tiger should personally state in a video posted on his website that he is sorry for the all of the pain he has caused his wife and family, he is sorry to his fans, the public, and to his sponsors and that he will work to regain their trust. The video should be released to every social media website to get his message across. As of this writing, Tiger and his website are trying to ignore TigerSexgate and this strategy is failing.

Is Team Tiger taking direction from Tiger, his personal attorney(s), his agent(s), or his publicist(s)? Whomever is the general in this fiasco must be replaced immediately. If Tiger is making the decision to stay out of the spotlight he needs to summon the courage to face the public and come clean. Leaders and role models address criticism head on and personally take full responsibility for their actions. So far, Tiger has failed to live up to the image that Team Tiger has created. This situation reminds me of the scene in The Wizard of Oz when the curtain on the Wizard is pulled back and there is nothing there but a man, not a "Wizard."

It has been approximately two weeks, and I am very surprised that his sponsors that include: Accenture, Electronic Arts, General Motors, Gillette, Pepsi, Proctor and Gamble, and Tag Heuer have been generally quiet since the story broke. If I was the legal counsel for any of Tiger's sponsors I would be reviewing the endorsement contract that my company has with Tiger and analyzing the "morals clause" that I assume was inserted in each contract. A contract morals clause provides a company the ability to terminate the services of an endorser if the endorser engages in activity that is inconsistent with a company's public image.

If the morals clause is properly drafted, I would advise my client to drastically redraft the endorsement contract or sever all ties with Tiger since my client is paying for an image that no longer exists. Companies want to be associated with people who are at the top of their profession, have the right personal image, and who know how to react when either their professional or personal image is under attack since an attack on the endorser is also an attack on the company's brand. Tiger no longer has the image companies desire and his ostrich like "head in the sand" reaction to this crisis demonstrates he is out of touch with the customers whom he is paid to attract.

When dealing with high profile clients, an attorney should ask his client(s) about any "possible future challenges" that may be on the client's radar. Sometimes the client will not be forthcoming, other times the client may provide this information. Due to the nature of the attorney-client relationship an attorney should make the client feel comfortable enough to provide this type of information so an attorney may be proactive in preventing a public relations nightmare that may have corporate and legal consequences.

Immediately after reports of Tiger's multiple infidelities become public, Tiger's legal team should have sprung into action. Tiger's legal team should have had the contact information for each woman with whom he had an inappropriate relationship with so they could negotiate a settlement to keep the relationship a private matter. In particular, Tiger should have worked with his legal team to list in order the women who have the most "evidence" of a relationship to the least amount of evidence. The women with whom he "sexted" with, left voice mails with, emailed with, or left any other possible evidence (Think Monica Lewinsky's Blue Dress), should have been targeted first. These women should have been offered appropriate settlements with iron clad confidentiality agreements.

Tiger should have followed Michael Jackson's lead and spent the money necessary to keep his image intact. Michael Jackson's image took a hit but he was never convicted of child molestation. Michael Jackson's settlement with his accuser(s) allowed him to keep his freedom and to go back to making music. Unfortunately, he tragically passed away earlier this past year before he was able to make another comeback.

Tiger's "transgressions" will not put him jail. However, it may forever change his relationship with his wife and family, eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars in marketing opportunities, destroy his public persona forever, and may affect his ability to focus on playing golf. I thought Tiger was a lock to easily surpass Jack Nicklaus on the all-time major wins list. After watching his response to TigerSexgate, I believe that Tiger will be lucky to win one more major. I hope he proves me wrong, but at this point in time I doubt it.

Copyright 2009 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.