Defending Against Twitter “Hacktivism”

Twitter hack.

I can imagine that if I was a PR professional working for a large company today, these two words could possibly haunt me, especially recently.

If you haven’t heard, there have now been at least two companies in the last couple of days whose Twitter accounts have been hacked. Burger King was the first target of the online activist group “Anonymous”, which was soon followed by Jeep. Both were hacked, proclaiming to be sold to rival companies (McDonald’s and Cadillac).

If you want a bit more information, here is a link to each story:

Burger King

Jeep

With all of these hacks occurring recently, I know I would be nervous to say the least if I was working on a PR or communications team for a large company. So what is a professional supposed to do? Well aside from trying to simply not upset anyone who might have the capability of hacking your Twitter or Facebook account, I’m not entirely sure there is much you can do for prevention.

However, having a backup plan would be incredibly wise, not just in the case of an account hack, but also just in case anything else happens. The key is to be as proactive as possible, not reactive.

For example, if an employee was to accidentally tweet via the company account, or if a disgruntled employee simply tweeted something negative about the company, you as a PR professional should already have a plan for such cases. Tweeting apologies, clearing things up, and engaging with customers in an effort to save face are all practices that a PR professional should be prepared to do if the occasion arises.

So how would I have handled the situation? I’d have apologized for any offenses caused by the hackers, while being totally open with consumers about what was happening. This would allow me to clear things up and show my genuine concern of the situation, while further engaging with the public and building customer loyalty.