Labour candidate removed for Twitter abuse
With the 2010 election campaign being touted as the election when social media is really going to come to the fore, it was only a matter of time before some prospective parliamentary candidate made, for want of a better word, a twit of themselves on Twitter.
Stuart MacLennan has been removed by the Labour party as PPC for Moray in Scotland following a series of social media gaffes.
MacLennan made several rather uncomplimentary tweets about his constituents, describing the elderly as “coffin dodgers” and frequently criticising “chavs” in close proximity to him throughout his constituency.
He also talked about his sobriety – or lack of it – and made several other unflattering and unwise comments. The Labour party initially backed their candidate, but after complaints from the SNP and other opposition parties they withdrew that support.
What I find interesting about this story is that, according to a BBC report, the majority of the tweets were made last year, before Mr MacLennan’s selection as a PPC, although some were made as late as 31 March this year.
The lines between professional and personal social networking are becoming increasingly blurred. Most of us have at some point made a comment on a social network that, on reflection, wasn’t the best thing to say. We might well delete it, but the trouble with social media is that it has a habit of being retweeted, recorded, and coming back to bite us on the proverbials when we least expect it.
If you use your Twitter for your business as well as your friends, it’s really critical that you think before you tweet. Increasingly, employers are turning to social networks to get the lowdown on their candidates before interviews or job offers, and it doesn’t take much to dig around on networks and find a host of information – perhaps more than you want just anybody to know.
In the case of MacLennan, this has damaged the Labour party’s election campaign launch and scored points for their opponents. My advice, for both business and personal social networking, is to consider exactly who is going to see what you’re about to post – now, do you really want to say it?
Read the full story on the BBC’s Election 2010 website.
