Who knew that Twitter could have such destructive effects on people who tweeted certain messages. Recently I’ve been following these incidents, but it actually started before that. Here are three examples of people who posted a tweet because they felt like it, but afterwards found themselves regretting for what they have done. Or at least some regret it…
1. Police chief (districtschef) Gerda Dijksman
Police chief Gerda Dijksman of the Zuidwest-Drenthe policeforce in the Netherlands has been relieved of her function due to a posted tweet. After two people died in a house (in Meppel), Dijksman tweeted that “it is probably domestic violence”. However, a little while later it appeared that the two people died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Fascinatingly, Dijksman already got warned once before about a PVV-tweet. Dijksman claims she understands her punishment and she apologized to the family of the deceased.
2. TROS and Cornald Maas
The TROS (broadcasting channel in the Netherlands) decided to immediately end their cooperation with Cornald Maas. The cooperation was based on the National Song Festival and the Eurovision Song Festival. This happened because of the following tweet: “The Netherlands has funny export products: Sieneke, Joran van der Sloot and the PVV”. However, this time Maas was surprised himself that the TROS decided to end the cooperation. He claims that his remark, which was tweeted a day after the Tweede Kamer elections, was supposed to be ironic. In addition, he claims that Sieneke, Joran van der Sloot and the PVV were worldwide news items at that time. However, the TROS sticks to their decision and therefore we will not be seeing Cornald Maas in the National Song Festival and the Eurovision Song Festival again.
3. RTV Midden Brabant and Sebastian Wolf
Regional broadcasting channel RTV Midden Brabant (again, in the Netherlands) fired Sebastion Wolf, a programmer, because of a tweet. He tweeted about a certain confidential choice the broadcasting company had to make. Apparently Wolf has been warned before about “recent communication about RTV Brabant to the public”. This statement was taken from Wolfs’ Hyvesprofile. In addition, he also questioned the professional image of RTV Brabant on MSN. A spokeswoman claims that it’s just a logical step. There is no room for someone who discredits the broadcasting company.
And these are just a handful of examples. My advice is to just watch what you tweet, because somethings should not be said! Or at least think about what you tweet. Professionally, this is even more important because you also represent the company. As to what I think, some people deserve to be punished, especially when they have been warned before. Do not underestimate the power of Twitter…
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