The recent comment by U.S. Representative Todd Akin that a woman’s body rarely conceives through “legitimate rape” because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” has set the social media world ablaze with negative comments about the Republican congressman from Missouri. Although Akin claimed that he “misspoke” on Facebook, at least one savvy social media specialist does not believe the apology was proper or unequivocal enough, according to an article on Tech Crunch.
“In short, the lesson for brands and politicians is just say ‘I’m sorry,’” wrote Gregory Ferenstein on Tech Crunch earlier today. ”No more, no less.” Ferenstein cites a unknowing recent flub on Twitter by Celeb Boutique about the Dark Knight movie shooting in Aurora, Colo. and, thereafter, at least four wholehearted Twitter apologies as an appropriate way of preserving one’s brand. In addition, Ferenstein notes Fareed Zakaria’s recent apology on Facebook after plagarizing a historian’s work as his own as a respectable way of handling such embarrassing situations.
“I made a terrible mistake, it is a serious lapse and one that is entirely my fault,” wrote Zakaria on Facebook. ”I apologize unreservedly to her, to my editors at Time and CNN, and to my readers and viewers everywhere.”
After Akin claimed that he misspoke, he went on to discuss his political agenda, much to Ferenstein’s dissaproval. Simply put, the Tech Crunch journalist says the best way to handle controversy online is to apologize on social media channels without reservation….and then zip it.
