Think Before You Tweet, Lessons From Justine Sacco’s Saga

Who could’ve ever predicted that 140 characters could screw up so many people’s lives?

But that’s exactly what has happened to politicians, executives, government staff and others because of their comments on Twitter. This social media platform has morphed from a fun place to an information hub to a career killer.

And astoundingly, even people who work in PR — you know, the folks who are supposed to advise clients on how to avoid social media disasters — can tweet out statements that cause a media uproar. We saw that this weekend when Justine Sacco — who at that time was a PR executive — tweeted shortly before her 12-hour flight to South Africa on Friday: “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!”