Unless you have been living in a cave or under a rock (which is ironically where we all thought the following would end) then you have heard the countless tales, debates and conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Osama bin Laden.

I will do my best to keep politics and religion out of this post.  Unfortunately because someone I admired was unable to, I am forced to reexamine some of the best practices in social media and social media marketing. This morning I found out that Rashard Mendenhall, a running back for the American football team the Pittsburgh Steelers, used his Twitter account to post this in regards to the events of the past few days and September 11th, 2001 in Lower Manhattan:

“We’ll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style.”

Now, before I continue, a few facts about me:

1. I was born in Pittsburgh and a very passionate Steelers fan.

2. I have 2 religions: Judaism and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

3. I am a survivor of the attacks on the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan on September 11^th, 2001. I had what you might call ….a front row seat.

This is certainly not about my religion, or my undying dedication to a sports team – this, to me, is about responsibility. If I was the person who signed the paycheck for Rashard, do I keep him, do I fire him?  I can also play devil’s advocate and wonder if this was not a public figure would I sit back and think “hmm, well, OK, I guess it’s possible…”  But I personally watched and felt both of those towers fall.

If you are a celebrity or other type of public figure do you have the same rights as the rest of us to voice your opinion online using social media tools and not face the same scrutiny as the rest of us?  I have my own opinions but I can tell you that even customers of Crowd Factory have their own internal rules and regulations as to how they present themselves to the public, which includes their fans, followers and loyal listeners.

A lot of what we do here at Crowd Factory is really fun – we have a blast, but we also recognize that there are times we must help our customers weather storms of social media and public relations disasters.  And this specific incident certainly is, because it made almost every player, coach and ….well basically the entire city of Pittsburgh look up and say “woohoo…hold your horses their buddy…” and take a step back.  When you create distance in your community, it makes it extremely hard to deliver momentum.

Lastly, if you are wondering what September 11, 2001 was like for me, read all about it here on my personal blog.