Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Tripped up by Social Media

In late December, 2013, Lansing, Michigan was hit by a severe ice storm resulting in thousands of customers throughout the region without power for between 2 and 10 days over the Christmas holiday. The Lansing municipal utility, "Lansing Board of Water and Light" was responsible for providing power to many of those without. Amid the outage the Executive Director of the LBWL kept his plans for a family vacation out of state in New York City. How did anyone find out? A seemingly harmless Facebook post by his wife with pictures of the ED in NYC at Rockefeller Center and enjoying drinks with family and friends. Let this be a reminder to all who are involved in some way in government and public service that social media is both a powerful tool for advocacy and for negativity. Don't be the one caught in the cross-hairs of social media!
Story here: http://www.wlns.com/story/24349275/bwls-peter-lark-left-town-during-ice-storm-power-outage

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