It’s almost impossible to win with shameless link baiting, especially when it relates to a tragedy but that didn’t stop The Huffington Post’s blogger Tricia Fox from trying it anyway. On the day following the death of Amy Winehouse the posted her first blog titled “Amy Winehouse’s Untimely Death Is a Wake up Call for Small Business Owners” and a reputation management crisis was born.
Readers immediately tore into Fox which was bad enough but Fox’s own insensitivity trumped anything that the readers could come up and continued to throw gas on a growing fire. As reader comments heated up Fox made several comments that just made people angrier and confirmed just how clueless she was about the big picture.
One of Fox’s comments stated “People are very quick to attack online. In response to this blog I have been called a narcissist, a bigot, reprehensible, insensitive and have earned the online credit for writing the “worst article ever written”. This is all from people who have never met me and probably never will. I am comfortable that I am none of those labels.”
The second was “Am I disappointed with my first Huffington Post blog? No. In fact, I really quite staggered at the response I have had (good or bad). It’s good to talk. And I’m open to discussion.” This was taken as an “any traffic is good traffic” attitude which didn’t fly either.
The episode teaches three Reputation Management lessons; trying to benefit from someone’s death makes people angry. Next, don’t defend the indefensible. Finally, when you’re wrong, admit it and move on.
