I hope I am never in a position where I have to watch my mouth on the web. I choose the type of work I do because I don't need anyone hovering over my head like this. I don't like second-guessing my words.

On the other hand, I do have common sense and I have deleted an update before hitting that Publish button. :)

James is a nice guy and is big on social media. I don't know if he could have anticipated someone taking issue with the fact that he was not enamored with the city that his client was located.

Well its interesting the way you couched the question as if this is a "social media" authenticity issue. It isn't. it is a run of the mill traditional client relations - workplace politics issue. Possibly even some corporate intrigue thrown in there. This is a "know your audience" issue. Nobody gets to say what they feel at work or about work.

It sounds like they are going through some things in Memphis right now and at Fedex right now. That being said. any and everything I say online is permanent and subject to the interpretation of anyone in the world and it frequently is.

You have to wonder the agenda of the person that wrote an entire email and sent it up the chain of command to both the client and Ketchum and leaked to the the blogs. Does James have any enemies at Ketchum? Fed Ex? That to me would be a far more intriguing question. The person who wrote that letter had an agenda. What was it?

Moral of the story, "new media" doesn't eliminate the age old rules of business. Social media doesn't change the rule of the game and eventually age old business considerations will bend social media in their direction.

Keep your head up James!

This is actually a sad situation for a person to find themself in because there has to be boundaries. Would this be treated different if he just made his statement orally or do the casual rules of engagement become rigid when letters are involved? If I understand this correctly, this was not a corporate twitter setup. If it was, then that would be different.

When I think about it, freedom of speech has always been situational.

This is the most blown out of portion thing I have ever witnessed in my lifetime. He stated that he did not like Memphis and it caused FedEx to trip. I understand he did do it on his Twitter account that he uses for personal and work, but he just said he wouldn’t live in the city! Not anything about the FedEx brand, nothing about their employees, nothing about any internal or confidential information regarding neither Ketchum nor FedEx.

Like, I really don’t like Michigan like that (and that is where I am from!) so if I get off the plane as a GM employee (not an employee, but both my parents retired from GM – just say I am for this example) and I say I really don’t like Michigan – GM calls or emails me and gets snappy with me? (And shares with the whole company and Internet!) That’s terribly wack. Or I say I really don’t like NYC (which is not true) but any company in NYC that I represent can get upset and I can get in trouble for stating my personal opinion.

FedEx needs to worry about keeping their deliveries on time and staying in front of their competitors instead of getting hissy over someone saying they wouldn’t live in a city their HQ is in.

Like – James has NOT disrespectful and like Angela stated he clearly said “True Confession” – this is why I don’t miss Corporate America and the agency world – they don’t know when they really want to be TRANSPARENT (I am using “transparent/transparency” a lot – cause in the agency world they shove this down your throat all day)

What James should do is:
1. Talk to his Crisis Communication department to see how he should handle this as a VP and new media marketing pro – this should not mess up his reputation.

2. Set up a training and new media class for the entire FedEx company and explain to them the web – cause they are clearing missing some stuff. He has been TRANSPARENT on this whole issue. So, I don’t see a problem.

3. He should also check out some corporate blogging books (which I am sure he knows back and forth) I remember when I work at an agency that is a competitor of Ketchum and they did not allow us to say anything about our clients unless it was approved.

4. He needs to immediately create a Twitter account strictly for work and one for his personal account. Cause there needs to be a separation clearly.

5. Write A BOOK! Let’s document this mess and do case studies – this needs to be explained and a process needs to happen. Cause this is not the last time a brand is going to trip over something so small. Could be a lot of money and you can leave Ketchum if they wanna trip

James- just know I am always down to Boycott – let me know and it’s done. DHL all day.

I think the original poster of this incident on the first blog post was kind enough to not really mention James' full name, which says to me it was about making a point with social media and PR and not about flameballing. Gawker blew it out of proportion, as did the person who wrote the letter to fedex execs. Gawker may have done it for the pageviews whereas the fedex person seems salty. I think things like this blow over pretty swiftly so from my standpoint its best not to pay attention to the tabloids.

my 8 cents.

When I read the letter, I was instantly drawn to the section that said:
we are experiencing significant business loss due to the global economic downturn, many of my peers and I question the expense of paying Ketchum to produce the video open for today’s event; work that could have been achieved by internal, award-winning professionals with decades of experience in television production.

It sounds to me like the some of the Fedex employees had a bone to pick with Ketchum coming into this event. They were waiting for someone at Ketchum to slip up, and unfortunately James happen to be the dude that stepped on the banana peel.

I hope it all works out.

Everyone has things they think and don't say, all the time, for a variety of reasons. It's one thing when a CNN anchor forgets their mic is on and goes on a bathroom rant when they think no one can hear, it's another to complain after the fact when you knew people could see what you were typing. There are more than enough ways to express your feelings anonymously, privately, or semiprivately, whether online or not, I just can't see how dissing a clients hometown publicly seemed like a good idea.

Gawker really fueled the flames, and the disgruntled Memphis citizen/FedEx employee is overly sensitive.

Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, but one must always be mindful of how others will interpret what is said or written.

I don't think James did anything wrong, but he may consider protecting his Twitter updates so he knows who is reading what he's posting.