Bar La Grassa, a popular eatery in Minneapolis, recently drew the ire of a celebrity Twitterer (Bob Harper of "The Biggest Loser" fame), and faced the consequences. Basically, through an intermediary at American Express, Harper was looking to nab at the last minute a table for five at Bar La Grassa; unfortunately for him, it was a Saturday night, and the place was booked. The only way to seat the minor celebrity and his friends was by kicking out one of the "little people," which the manager at Bar La Grassa refused to do. So feeling victimized by the "ordeal," Harper took to Twitter and incited his 123,000 followers to have at the establishment, with the following tweet: "OMG!! The manager at Bar Lagrasa in Minneapolis was SO RUDE to me. I wanted to have dinner there. Why are people so mean sometimes?" A pretty misleading message, given that Harper hadn't even personally contacted the eatery, nor did he mention the fact that the reason he couldn't get in was because Bar La Grassa rather admirably was unwilling to get rid of people who had diligently made reservations just for the sake of a put-upon celebrity. But what followed next was not pretty:  Bar La Grassa spent the night pacifying Harper's blindly loyal followers, who flooded their phone lines. (Read the whole story here).

I must admit, this is one of those horror scenarios I fear when using social media. The Salem Witch Trials greatly captured my imagination as a kid, mostly because I, for some reason or other, tended to be the scapegoat in my bratty circle of friends (the meek goody-two-shoes look I had going on probably served as a great magnet for unwarranted blame--and here I am now, the worrywort before you!). So I can definitely relate to Bar La Grassa's unfairly being burned at the stake.

But the lesson to learn from this debacle is that though social media can definitely be leveraged as a tool for inciting harm (which in some instances can be good thing, such as spotlighting wrongs or even toppling governments), it can also equally be used for repairing any harm (read: damage control). The best way to counteract being unfairly blamed is to present your own side of the story. Bar La Grassa unfortunately stood weak and helpless against the better-equipped Harper, and it needed a vindicating article from the Star Tribune that came two Saturdays too late. (Let it be said though that the article has done a good job of flaming populist outrage, the same weapon Harper had used via Twitter; the article now boasts a trunkload of comments condemning "Loser Bob" for his Twitter abuse).

Have you ever had social media horror stories like the one Bar La Grassa encountered? If so, were you able to turn the situation around and use social media to your own advantage?