By Kasia Murphy
The Creative Director of Microsoft Studios recently underestimated the power of a single tweet, causing something of a social media storm around comments linked to a rumoured new computer console.
Adam Orth took to Twitter to express his frustration at the ‘drama’ surrounding the idea of ‘always-online’ consoles. Specifically, Orth argued "sorry, I don't get the drama around having an 'always on' console. Every device now is 'always on'. That's the world we live in. #dealwithit". The ensuing exchange with senior BioWare designer Manveer Heir, began the slow-motion car crash:
"Did you learn nothing from Diablo 3 or SimCity?" Heir asks him. "You know some people's internet goes out, right? Deal with it is a sh***y reason."
"Electricity goes out too," Orth replied. “Sometimes the electricity goes out. I will not purchase a vacuum cleaner.”
"You've lived in LA, San Francisco, Seattle... very connected places. Try living in Janesville, WI or Blackburg, VA," Heir countered.
"Why on earth would I live there?" Orth concluded.
While there has been speculation on the side about whether these comments confirm that there is a new console from Microsoft in the works, what’s more interesting from a communications perspective is that telling people to 'deal with it' on Twitter is perhaps not the best idea.
All brands can use social media to come out from behind the curtain and build meaningful relationships with their followers and, while keeping the corporate hat on is important, this incident goes to show the importance of media training when just one tweet is all it takes to spark a PR disaster.
Comments