I finally spoke up when my friend got piled on for an old tweet

Last week, a buddy from college got a bunch of heat for a dumb joke he posted on Twitter back in 2014. People were digging through his old stuff and calling for his job. We were just hanging out at his place in Austin when he showed me his phone, totally freaked out. I told him to post a real apology, not a fake one, and own the mistake without making excuses. He did it that night, and the whole thing blew over in about 48 hours because he was straight up about it. It made me think, when does digging up old stuff stop being about accountability and just become a mob? Has anyone else seen a case where a real apology actually worked to stop the pile-on?

3 comments

3 Comments

wyatt13511d ago

Had a client last year who got roasted for some tone-deaf property captions from 2016. Told him to email the local neighborhood group, say the old posts were stupid and he was sorry, and list three things he'd do better. He sent it, people saw he meant it, and the whole mess died down by the weekend. Most folks just want to see you get the point.

juliarodriguez11d ago

But what if the apology just makes you a bigger target? Sometimes admitting fault just gives people more to pick apart, like they'll say your three action items aren't good enough. I've seen people try to be humble and the mob just moves the goalposts, asking why it took so long to apologize in the first place.

corap2111d ago

My cousin in Houston had something similar happen over a Facebook post from high school. People just want to see you squirm, but a real sorry cuts the legs out from under them. It's like they're bored and looking for a fight, not justice.