- How to prevent and how to deal with reputational risks that arise online and in social media comments.
The MS Society had to issue a public apology last year after tweeting an appeal for people to help ‘turn the streets of Belfast orange’. Apparently, the person writing the tweet had wanted to encourage people to wear the charity’s orange branding at a sponsored walk through the city, but it didn’t take long for Twitter to notice the controversy. The charity was suddenly in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons and was left having to apologise for the inadvertent reference to the protestant Orange Order (See: bbc.in/3zdegdw).
Most charities use platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to raise awareness and to promote their work, but with the benefits also come the risks. The speed at which content can be posted, re-posted, and shared means that improper or inappropriate use of social media can all too easily result in unauthorised disclosure