Life Lessons from the World of Social Media and More

The original blog post made me howl with laughter.  The uppercut at the end made me think.  The lessons are for all of us:  Don't crap on people.  Don't go head to head with a person you don't understand, don't know, and don't appear to care about.  (If you want to read a good synopsis of the entire matter, go here.)

The short version is that some PR firm sent some left-field pitch to a well known blogger (and no doubt to several thousand others at the same time).  Said blogger, in an attempt to illustrate the irrelevance of the pitch to her, sent back a picture of Wil Wheaton collating paper.  (Yes, you read that right.  It's awesome.)  Said PR firm replied to said blogger, copying in several others at the firm.  Said blogger was prepared to be done, until a VP at the firm hit "reply all" and called her a "f*cking bitch."  Oh, the story is too rich to encapsulate as I am doing - go read it!  Then you will totally understand the grand finale moment, when this fabulous blogger said to the VP at the firm "Stand by for a demonstration of relevance," and proceeded to tweet his stupidity to the known universe.  Oh, the justice of it all! 

I read this back in October when it first came out, and every now and again, I am reminded of it.  We live in a day and age when a customer can be a raving fan, or a raving unhappy customer, and, no matter which one, can jump on the social media soapbox of his or her choice and shout to the world. 

There a ton of lessons to be learned from the interchange cited above.  However, most of them are life lessons, not social media lessons.  In no particular order:

• Don't apologize and immediately follow it up with "but here is why you are wrong."
• Sometimes you start something and you just can't finish with dignity.  Bow out while you still have some.
• Win/Lose is not a winning proposition, no matter which side you are on.
• If you are determined to get into a fight, know your opponent.  (In this case, that would have been pretty easy.)
• Grammar, punctuation, and spelling still count.  Believe it.
• If you throw crap against the wall hoping that some will stick, you also should know that some of it will inevitably splash back on you.
• And finally... (drum roll please).. don't take a knife to a gunfight.

Whether online or in-person, people you know or people you don't, via blog or tweet or Facebook or carrier pigeon or conversation, act with respect.  Treat people with dignity.  Don't compound a big mistake by making a bigger one.  Always make sure your side of the table is clean.  In the old days, your mother would come down on your head.  Nowadays, the world can.

What life lessons would you add onto this list?