Getting Your Wires Crossed

Online reputation management faceplanting 101 requires getting your wires crossed in a big way. For example, the band Metallica broke trust with its fans, igniting an online firestorm when it sent journalists and bloggers advance copies of it latest album for review. Metallica forgot to ask reviewers to sign a non-disclosure agreement, so when they began sharing their reviews online, Metallica blew a gasket. Suddenly Metallica’s representation demanded for those reviews be taken down, even though the reviewers, having not signed that agreement, had been within their legal rights to leave them up.

This is a clear example of faceplanting your image online via getting your wires crossed. I don’t know why Metallica suddenly changed tactics, but this is a good lesson in thinking your course of action all the way through and sticking with it so as not to confuse your audiences and reflect negatively on your good name.