The connectivity of the internet becomes valuable because it makes the Earth a little bit smaller, but there are manageable downsides.

One of the predictions made this year by SearchEngineWatch was that social media would change offline behavior as people behaved as if their mother were watching more often. The truth is that anything could end up on the internet for all to see.

It's like being in high school again.

The smallest thing gets taken out of context and spread around and blown out of proportion. However, this characteristic of the internet is something to be kept in mind - your image and reputation must be protected. And maybe it's not so awful for everyone to behave as if their mother were watching.

This lesson was learned by James Andrews of Ketchum, a PR firm in Atlanta who was traveling to Memphis to do teach people at FedEx about social media. However, he made a negative comment on Twitter that was not directed at FedEx. David Henderson writes about the incident here.

Someone at FedEx corporate communications was following him on twitter and personally berated Andrews for his comment, adding that his presentation was not very relevant to their situation. In confirming the situation, David Henderson attempted to contact Andrews and Ketchum, and received a reply two hours later:

"It was a lapse in judgment and we’ve apologized to our client. We
greatly value this long standing client relationship. It is our
privilege to work with them."

James Andrews told his side of the story at his blog, and there are many different reactions:

-Someone at FedEx corporate communications blew this out of proportion.

-Andrews should have known better as someone who was coming to present on social media.

-Andrews' comment was innocent and wouldn't have gotten anywhere without the scathing response posted on the internet.

-Andrews' comment reflected badly on Ketchum, portraying Ketchum as a cocky PR firm.

-Ketchum's work for FedEx was not up to par and this Twitter comment was the last straw.

Point is, anything could be taken the wrong way, and spread around to tarnish your reputation. This fear is a large hurdle to cross in social media but it can be managed. Two lessons to learn from this would be:

-Mind your comments. Particularly the negative ones. You could not only hurt yourself, but your organization as well.

-Respond quickly. Any delay in response is not taken well, given the fast nature of the internet.

Also, speaking of acting as if your mother is watching, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.