Why MTV was wrong to fake-hack their own Twitter account

This post, by Centennial CC&PR program coordinator Barry Waite, appeared originally on Canada.com.

Hacking social media sites is quickly becoming a hot trend. In the past week, Facebook was hacked and several Twitter accounts were the subject of takeovers. Most notable was Burger King; their Twitter feed was rebranded with the familiar golden arches of rival McDonald’s for several hours on February 18. Many of the tweets sent from the account while it was hacked were offensive and racist, and were retweeted hundreds and hundreds of times ensuring the hack went viral, creating lots of bad publicity for Burger King.

Then Jeep’s Twitter account fell victim to a similar hack. It seemed as if nobody online was safe.

The latest high profile hack happened Tuesday, with the takeover of MTV’s account by BET (Black Entertainment Network). But this one was different. It turns out that the MTV hack was a publicity stunt staged by the network to raise awareness of a BET live event in Los Angeles. While the prank may be in keeping with the MTV brand, it sets a dangerous precedent that other high profile brands would be foolish to follow.

Social media is a powerful tool for building relationships, particularly for brands looking to connect with consumers. The brands that are most successful on social media are the ones that have built a relationship based on authenticity and trust with their followers, and use it to reinforce their brand online. Most have very sophisticated social media policies that ensure everyone tweeting is on message and respects the brand, and the trust of their followers. In my opinion, messing with that trust for a short burst of publicity isn’t worth the long-term damage you risk.

Given the dramatic increase in followers Burger King got after being hacked (up 18% or 15,000 followers in just one hour), and the attention MTV is getting with its prank, why not stage a hostile takeover of the Twitter feed for a few hours to generate a torrent of publicity and the sympathy that comes with it? Now consider the negative tweets — the racist bile associated with the Burger King account for that time — being retweeted repeatedly while connected with the brand. Consider the resources needed to manage inadvertent outcomes that might result in the mainstream media or with key stakeholders. And consider someone might find you out. Would anyone ever trust you again?

Most would argue that brands are too smart to go down that road. However, in today’s competitive environment the pressure to create a viral sensation and generate online buzz can lead down many roads.

At the end of the day, it’s the public relations professionals who are called in to try to get things moving in the right direction. The truth is: No amount of good PR can help you recover from bad judgment. With global concern over hacking, and the serious consequences it presents, you don’t want to be seen encouraging it or, worse, staging a false takeover to garner short-term attention.

It’s a social media strategy as juvenile as most of the content on MTV.