Businesses have been warned to watch what they say on Twitter after media mogul Rupert Murdoch found himself in digital hot water after slamming Google in a series of tweets aimed at supporting a contentious piece of legislation in the United States designed to stop piracy.
The tweets are only the latest controversy to arise from the social media site, with entrepreneurs and well-known entities often called out for contentious statements. Even industry rivals, such as Microsoft and Google, are well-known for sledging each other over networks.
Murdoch took to Twitter over the weekend, after joining the service earlier this month. He singled out Google, saying the company was implicit in allowing piracy, attacking it for opposing an upcoming bill in the United States legislature, the Stop Online Piracy Act.
“Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells adverts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying,” he said, referring to Google’s actions to stop the bill.
Murdoch also said Obama had “thrown in his lot” with Silicon Valley paymasters who oppose the SOPA act, which many tech companies view as having language that is far too broad.
Entrepreneurs have become embroiled in Twitter scandals before. Microsoft and Google employees regularly have a go at one another, and TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington found himself the target of scorn on Twitter after making comments about a lack of African-American entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.
Brandology founder Michel Hogan says the nature of online media assumes personalities will clash, but that entrepreneurs must be extremely careful with what they say.
“It depends on the context… in some cases, there are rules around advertising when you’re calling someone out on Twitter, so there could be legal issues there,” she told SmartCompany this morning.
But Hogan says local business people need to tread a fine line when it comes to referencing other companies on Twitter, and ensure the person’s own reputation is maintained.
“If you are a business person, you have a right to express your opinion. But if you are so tied in to your organisation that it’s hard to separate you from it, then it becomes much, much harder.”
Hogan points to Richard Branson, who she believes is able to balance speaking personally and also speaking out for the Virgin group.
“He uses that to express his personal views, and he has been known to express thoughts for or against certain issues, but he’s also very good about distinguishing when he is speaking for himself and when he’s speaking more in a representative type of way.”
“For someone like Murdoch, it kind of goes without saying that whatever he tweets is going to be taken as News Corp’s point of view.”
Hogan says Australia is a social media-savvy country, and controversies can begin pretty quickly. As a result, entrepreneurs in the spotlight need to realise when to make certain comments and when to back off – especially as there could be legal problems.
“It depends on the context, because unlike in the United States, where it’s okay to call out another company in advertising, you can’t do that here. And there are rules around advertising that could even possibly extend to Twitter.”
“There are a lot of nuances here. Think about why you’re sending a tweet. If it’s your opinion, just preface it with that.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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