Have ‘Acknowledge, Apologize and Address’ Run Their Course as a PR Crisis Response?

There’s one thing you can say about social media–sometimes it helps remove doubt. Before social media, person A could allege that he heard person B utter racist remarks. Today, after making such an allegation you can assume someone, a media member, perhaps, will scour person B’s public-facing social posts for supporting evidence.

It goes to a principle that communicators know well: Nothing disappears once it’s posted on social media.

Post something that enough people consider insensitive and you can find yourself on the wrong side of an onslaught. Ask Burger King UK.
Posts Can Live Forever
Let’s complicate things. Say a person posts something insensitive and out of character. Add another wrinkle: the poster is young and immature. Years later, the post may resurface and cause her trouble when she’s up for a big job.

True, if trouble flares from the old post she, as an adult, can pull it down. With the help of communicators, hopefully, she will issue an apology.