We have talked about the impact that new technology has on society and on the business and communications world. While there are some things that are absolutely great about social media and technology, there are definitely some lessons that some organizations and individuals will have to learn the hard way in dealing with. For one thing, crisis communication professionals will never not have a case to look at on how NOT to practice or communicate with their audiences online. Whether you are United Airlines in dealing with the Dave Carroll viral music video being shared online or having Domino’s deal with their YouTube crisis, the list goes on and on. You might want to add Cook’s Source Magazine to the list for not only plagiarizing a blogger of their post, but their rationale on why they felt they could get away from it.
The social media community has been discussing this case extensively over the last couple of days. Here is what happened: Monica Gaudio found out that her blog post was published in Cooks Source Magazine, and when she contacted the editor of the magazine that this was the case and if she could be compensated and a donation to be made to the Columbia School of Journalism, the response from the editor, Judith Griggs, was absolutely amazing via an email response thanks to a CNN International news article:
“[H]onestly Monica, the Web is considered ‘public domain’ and you should be happy we just didn’t ‘lift’ your whole article and put someone else’s name on it! It happens a lot, clearly more than you are aware of, especially on college campuses, and the workplace. If you took offense and are unhappy, I am sorry, but you as a professional should know that the article we used written by you was in very bad need of editing, and is much better now than was originally.”
Okay, can we say PR Nightmare? I was amazed when I first heard this case being reported online and then in the traditional news. First, this case study goes to show you that the Internet is indeed a powerful tool for bloggers to voice their concern and raise their awareness about a specific issue with others. If this happened before the Internet or social media, my guess is that this would have not been out in public, and it would have disappeared as a result. Second, this case also goes to show that email is a way to document human conversations and interactions that can affect how people perceive not only who you are representing, but your own personal brand as well. Unless you want to have your email read and public for the world to see – don’t write it! This was definitely a lesson that Ms. Griggs is definitely finding out more about in regards to this case study. Third and lastly, this does bring up the importance of understanding the ethical and legal implications of social media, and understand and know the laws that govern communication online. In this case, it appears that Cooks Source Magazine didn’t get the memo. In fact – there were so many people outraged with this situation, they went back to see how many other articles and recipes were copied from other sources, and found a lot of them. Oops.
So, what has happened since this was reported? Cooks Source Magazine has been tweeted, commented on their Facebook page, and is definitely not perceived positively in the online community. The “apology” that was given out on the Facebook page was very interesting as well – you all might want to check it out for yourself. In summary, this case can be viewed in many public relations perspectives from a crisis communications standpoint to an ethical and legal point of view – either way, it can be summarized that Cooks Source is definitely facing a huge uphill battle on their hands, and the legal situation and cases are just the beginning. In terms of a legal / crisis standpoint, this is going to be a case public relations professionals are going to be talking a lot about when it comes to new emerging technologies. This is just my personal point of view. Hope you all are having a wonderful day.
Best Wishes,
Karen
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