How Does Satirical News Cross A Line?

I am one of the millions of people who are sucked into the Academy Awards each year. Thanks to social media, they have become even more fun to watch, since with social media you are never alone watching them. Naturally, everyone has an opinion, and Twitter, Facebook, and a couple glasses of wine always give us the courage to really say what we think. I think most of the conversations were disagreements! For some reason it's always more fun to argue than agree, especially about creative topics.

Even with my watchful eye, I follow way too many people and hashtags to catch everything that goes by. However, that is what retweets are for. Not everything slides under the radar on the internet for very long. This is how the satire-news site The Onion got into a little hot water Sunday night.

For those who are not familiar (and even those of you who are), I would like to repeat: The Onion is a satirical news site. It's fake, and most of the time, pretty tasteless. So how could a well-known satire site that always tries to up the shock factor possibly get in trouble? Well, by this tweet. Warning, it's definitely "R" rated and not for work. Or children. Or those who are offended easily (who also probably do not read the Onion).

My first reaction was the same as everyone else. Too far! You don't say that about a 9 year old! The nerve! Where's the decency? Apparently the entire world (i.e. Twitter) wanted the offending tweeter's head on a pike. It is definitely a fine line between a parody and just being an offensive jerk. It caused so much controversy that The Onion actually had to issue an apology.

That's what made me rethink the entire thing. The Onion, satirical news site, apologized for doing what they do on a daily basis. Here's a sampling of headlines from their website:

*While I'm Glad I Won, I Personally Believe Abraham Lincoln Deserved To Die ("written" by Daniel Day-Lewis)
*Sonny Bono Foundation Prevents At-Risk Youths From Skiing Into Trees
*In Focus: Parents Of Suicide Victim Saw It Coming A Mile Away
*Oscars Fashion Report: Kathryn Bigelow Stuns On Red Carpet Wearing Blood-Soaked Rags Osama Bin Laden Was Killed In

Now, granted I am more tolerant than most when it comes to language. I personally don't believe that there is bad language, only appropriate places to use certain language. I tend to be colorful with my language, but you certainly aren't going to hear it in a client meeting or at a conference. If MSNBC had tweeted the same thing as the Onion? Probably not the best of ideas. It's not their normal policy, so yes there should be action taken (I'm not even mentioning all of the radio hosts out there that work for major news outlets who routinely offend on a daily basis, and never have to worry about losing their job). But the Onion? Honestly, I don't feel an apology was necessary. It's what they do. That's the point.

I was on Twitter following along while watching the Oscars, and I didn't even know this happened until the next day when I read the post from Social Media Today. That leads me to think that unless you were completely glued to Twitter and caught the re-tweet, a lot of people didn't see it either. It certainly wasn't a story the local 10pm news talked about. I think this was made out to be a bigger deal than it needed to be.

There is a lesson in this though. A reminder that what you say online stays there. Once you hit "send", it can't be undone. For those of us who do not run satirical websites that borderline on vulgar, it's good to remember that as you're typing status updates.

I'd love to know what you think, not just about this, but about appropriate use of language in different contexts. Comment below, or over on the Facebook page!

Thanks for reading! If you feel so inclined, you can follow my daily ramblings on Twitter, and get all sorts of information from my Facebook Page! See you around the interwebs! 

Girl Scout cookie season still limiting young entrepreneurs

I love seeing how organizations use social media in their daily interactions. Most of the time it's positive, informative, and engaging. Every now and then I shake my head and want a direct line to whoever is in charge so I can beg to let me help them. I feel this way with the Girl Scouts.

My older daughter was in Girl Scouts (GS) for five years. I think. Maybe six? I don't know, it's all a sugar-induced cookie blur. Back when she was first involved, marketing via social media was just taking off. I don't think GS even had a Facebook page, much less a Twitter account. Parents were still fearful of the online world, so online selling was not happening. I remember tweeting about cookie booths to hopefully drive some extra sales our way, and my daughter would send an email to family letting them know she was selling. At the booths, the most frustrating thing to me was only taking cash and checks. With so many avenues open to take people's money, why wasn't GS getting on board?

Jump to a couple of years ago. Brands by now are now extremely relevant online, and GS moved forward with the times. They even opened up online ordering via individual websites for the girls. However, you could still only order. They still did not take credit card payments, and you couldn't use other resources for payment like PayPal. Honestly, it wasn't a terrible system. Most cookie sales come from people in the town you live in. You still have to deliver the boxes of cookies, so you can be paid in person when you deliver. If you get a lot of orders from out of state, that makes it more difficult to deliver, because now you have a shipping charge, etc. It's just a hassle that GS hasn't worked out yet. This year I'm told they are taking credit card payments at cookie booths- which is a big step forward. I am one of those people who almost never has cash on her, so I would definitely be more likely to buy cookies!

There is still a side of GS cookie season that a lot of people do not realize, and that is donations. GS troops always send boxes of cookies to troops overseas, as well as to shelters and fire/police stations in their area. It's the troop care packages which brings me to the point of this post- because this week a scout did a big no-no while talking about this very thing online. The 11-year-old was part of a Twitter Chat, and was telling everyone about their project for sending cookies to troops, and also gave a link to a PayPal account for donations. It was informative, and a great business strategy. So great in fact that a mom from her own troop ratted her out to the higher-ups, which prompted a public twitter-scolding by GS (see the link for the whole scoop).

In fairness, no, she could not have a PayPal account. It's not one of their allowed methods of payment. I'm not going to dive into the personal stuff about tattling. Some GS troops are way more competitive than others. What bothers me is the thinking that the way to teach girls about business is simply to sell door-to-door and in front of stores. Yes, they have made strides, but it's a disservice to limit how people can pay. When you limit how people can pay, you limit the creativity in how the girls can sell cookies. Why bother chatting online about troop donations if the only way they can donate is to mail a check? Are you going to mail a check to some stranger? Is that Scout's parents really going to want to give their address out online? I think not.

I understand wanting to teach girls how to handle money. It's important, definitely. It's important to teach them how to build confidence in themselves too, which is why they encourage door-to-door and store front selling. But let's be honest. I have Girl Scouts in my neighborhood, no one has come by to sell to me. How many of you have taken the order form to work, or have been approached not by the child, but by the parent wanting sales? We also promote online for our children who are too young to have Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, as well as for those who do have their own social media accounts. The majority of the selling by the girls seem to come from cookie booths.

Trust me, this isn't a critique of Girl Scouts. I love GS and their Girl Power message. Although my daughter needed to leave the troop for time-organizational reasons, the years she spent as a scout are invaluable, and will serve her well for the rest of her life. My critique is in their old-business way of thinking. They have made progress with online promoting, website ordering (but not payment) and now allowing credit card payment. There is even an app to find cookies! These methods do help cookie addicts buyers find their cookies, but I feel they are still holding girls back by not fully embracing methods of payment. So much more creativity and forward-thinking can be encouraged in these girls, if the Girl Scouts would just forward their own a little faster than they have been.

Thanks for reading! If you feel so inclined, you can follow my daily ramblings on Twitter, and get all sorts of information from my Facebook Page! See you around the interwebs!