Op-Ed: The WSOP's Twitter Blunder - Should Seth Palansky Be Fired?
Matt Kaufman compares the World Series of Poker's recent Twitter blunder to other corporate social media mistakes and considers whether or not Seth Palansky, responsible for the WSOP Twitter account, should be fired for the incident.
Following the World Series of Poker's recent Twitter bomb in which they retweeted that poker pro Jon Aguiar is a "complete bitch" (check out our interview with Aguiar about the incident), Aguiar began to publicly voice his opinion that Seth Palansky, the man behind the @WSOP Twitter account, should lose his job.
When I heard Aguiar's opinion, three questions came to mind:
• What are some other situations where individuals have lost their jobs for social media mistakes?
• What would I think about the WSOP retweet incident if I were an investor in Caesars Entertainment?
• Should Seth Palansky be fired for endorsing such a message on behalf of the WSOP?
Major social media mistakes
Social media sites - and especially Twitter and Facebook - can be a way for individuals or companies to provide their customers with useful information. For example, the PokerStrategy.com Twitter and Facebook accounts make our users aware of our latest promotions and content, and we address the issues of PokerStrategists.
In considering the WSOP's Twitter blunder, I decided to search for some of the most prominent social media mistakes in which individuals lost their jobs. Here are some examples, with the most relevant one at the bottom of the list:
• New York politician Anthony Weiner was pressured to resign after he tweeted explicit photos of himself. He meant to send them via a private message to a young woman.
• Comedian Gilbert Gottfried lost his job as the voice of the Aflac Duck when he sent offensive jokes about tsunami victims in Japan from his personal Twitter account. One example - "I just split up with my girlfriend, but like the Japanese say, 'They'll be another one floating by any minute now.'"
• Former professional baseball player and radio host Mike Bacsik is apparently a fan of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. After the team lost an important game to the San Antonio Spurs, Bacsik tweeted "Congrats to all the dirty Mexicans in San Antonio". Bacsik apologized, but was still promptly fired from his radio job.
• Scott Bartosiewicz had full access to Chrysler's corporate Twitter account, and tweeted "I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f*cking drive." Despite claiming that the tweet was an accident and he meant to send it from his personal account, Bartosiewicz was fired from his company, New Media Strategies, and Chrysler ended their relationship with the firm.
The Chrysler example is the most relevant to the WSOP situation. In both situations, a public relations specialist spoke on behalf of a corporation and used inappropriate language in doing so. I would personally argue that the WSOP retweet is worse because it specifically attacked a customer.
Despite my efforts, I found it impossible to find a completely comparable situation to this one. It may be accurate to say that Caesars Entertainment - through the actions of Seth Palansky - is the first publicly traded company in the history of social media to effectively endorse the direct name calling of one of their customers.
What about the investors?
Caesars Entertainment, which owns the World Series of Poker brand, is a public company which trades as CZR on the NASDAQ. Because of this, employees of Caesars - and especially managers - have a responsibility to shareholders to put forth their best effort to increase the value of the company.
If Caesars, as an entity, endorses calling one of its customers a "complete bitch", investors would surely be outraged to learn this. Many of them would certainly lose confidence in the company.
Alternatively, if Caesars does NOT endorse calling a customer that name, how could they justify continuing to employ a public relations director who thinks it's OK to make such a statement on behalf of the company?
Should Seth Palansky lose his job?
All signs so far point to 'yes', but before attempting to answer this question directly, let's first consider what Palansky's job actually is.
On Linkedin, he lists his job title as "Vice President, Corporate Communications". Among other things, it is his responsibility to "run communications for the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the World Series of Poker Europe in France" and perhaps most notably to "serve as official spokesperson".
Taking into consideration that his primary role within the company is being in charge of media relations, I would argue that this type of failure in representing a brand is far larger than a simple mistake.
In an interview with QuadJacks, Palansky admitted that he had personal problems with Jon Aguiar and that he knew he was using the official WSOP Twitter account (as opposed to his personal account) when he retweeted the comment. He also admitted to not understanding the difference between a retweet and "favoriting" a tweet.
Palansky has demonstrated that he simply doesn't understand social media in the broadest sense. Twitter and Facebook, when used effectively, aren't really marketing tools. They are primarily customer service tools. By reacting to Jon Aguiar in the matter that he did, Palansky sent a message on behalf of the World Series of Poker that feedback from their customers is not welcome.
Seth Palansky's lack of judgment demonstrates that he is incapable of being in charge of communications for a major brand in this day in age. In 2012, social media incompetence is simply unacceptable from someone who lists his own specialities as "public relations", "marketing", "media relations", "crisis communications", "spokesperson", and "brand management".
The World Series of Poker is a brand that is near and dear to poker players across the globe. In my opinion, Palansky should be fired for his lack of respect for both the brand and its customers.
Follow Matt Kaufman on Twitter (he won't call you a "complete bitch")
