PR Rock Head Award: Social Media Insider Hacking

WIBW-TV employees panicked last weekend when it appeared that the Topeka, Kansas, CBS-affiliate’s Facebook page had been hacked.  A series of messages were posted on the page that criticized Topeka and praised the city’s rival, Manhattan.

The station quickly discovered that the “hacker” was the general manager, who had mistakenly posted on the WIBW Facebook page when he thought he was posting on his personal account.

As someone who manages nearly a dozen social media accounts, I know firsthand the importance of triple checking which account you are posting from.

More than 4 million companies have Facebook pages, and that number is growing.  It is crucial that people who manage or have access to company social media accounts, be aware of what accounts they are posting from.  If you use external applications like TweetDeck or HootSuite to manage multiple social media accounts, make sure you indicate the correct account you want to post from.

Posting personal information can damage both your reputation and your company’s reputation, as evidenced by the PR rock head from WIBW.