Member Avatar for MktgRob

For those of you outside of the Long Island, NY area, you may have missed a good one. It seems that the latest teen music sensation, Justin Bieber (who's fame is based on viral youtube videos of himself singing songs by Usher and Ne-Yo, which led to a twitter campaign by his fans to get him a record contract), was scheduled to appear at Justice girls clothing store at the Roosevelt Field Mall last Friday for an autograph signing and mini-concert. An expected crowd of a few hundred turned into a crowd of 3,000 and the Nassau County Police stepped in. First they canceled the appearance and directed a record company exec to contact the singer to tell him not to show. They then direct the same record company exec to send a tweet to all of the fans in attendance to let them know about the change in plans. The exec refused, a minor disturbance occurred, an officer was injured and the record company exec was arrested for endangering the welfare of a child, obstruction of governmental administration, reckless endangerment and criminal nuisance, all misdemeanors and all due to his failure to tweet. The link is below to the original story in Newsday. The exec has plead not guilty.

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Dani AI

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This thread — and the points raised by , and — is a practical reminder: social accounts used at live events are operational tools, not just marketing channels. Treat them the same way you treat sound, security or signage. A clear, written plan before the event and simple, practiced procedures during the event will cut risk and confusion.

Pre-event checklist to adopt now:

  • Designate one named social-media operator per event and document their authority to post emergency messages.
  • Prepare short, pre-approved templates for cancellations, delays, and safety instructions that legal has cleared.
  • Set up multiple communication channels (PA, SMS/text alerts, staff radios, signage) so social posts are not the only way to reach an on-site crowd.
  • Brief local venue/security and local authorities on who is authorized to post and how they will contact that person.
  • Run a quick tabletop drill so the team knows the chain of command and how to execute a rapid message.

Operational guidance during an incident: confirm any instruction from authorities as clearly as possible (time-stamped messages, call logs), but prioritize on-site safety and use redundant channels. Keep an immediate, time-stamped log (screenshots, call records, notes) of every instruction and every outgoing message. If legal exposure is a concern, preserve those records and notify legal counsel promptly.

After the event: publish a concise factual timeline, correct misinformation quickly, coordinate public messaging with venue and authorities, and conduct an after-action review to update SOPs and training. The goal is to make social media a reliable part of event operations rather than a single point of failure.

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Member Avatar for InsightsDigital

OMG - I saw something about this on UP9 but I did not realized it was all based on the lack of a tweet!!! The lines of separation between offline and digital lives are more blurred every day.

Member Avatar for jay 11

Ha - i live on LI but did not hear about this. Who would of thought that a tweet could have been so physically influential!

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