Social Media PR Crisis: PR NewsChannel Apologizes When Problem Erupts on Twitter Site @prnewschannel

PRNewsChannel investigates what caused RSS2Twitter service to pumped out 100 old Tweets at a time to create a mess of its timeline problems for its followers.

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(PRNewsChannel) / June 23, 2010 / TAMPA, Fla. / The press release distribution company PRNewsChannel, accustomed to sending out news releases for companies responding to a crisis, found itself dealing with one of its own shortly after 5:05pm ET when the timeline on its Twitter page @prnewschannel "exploded" and began spurting out more than a hundred random Tweets--some from weeks earlier.

"We were not aware of it until 5:12pm, when we noticed several Tweets referencing @prnewschannel including one from @MollyBorchers saying she was bombarded by our Tweets and was so bothered by it, she unfollowed.  We immediately looked into it," says Glenn Selig, founder of PRNewsChannel (https://prnewschannel.com), the press release distribution company.  "When we discovered dozens of old Tweets, some from many weeks ago, spontaneously posting via RSS2Twitter.com we immediately pulled the plug on that website's access to @prnewschannel."

Selig says he realizes the headaches this caused for avid Twitter users.  "I apologize for any problem to followers and thank Twitter user @MollyBorchers for calling this situation to our attention," says Selig.

Selig says his team immediately tried to Tweet a message about what had happened, but Twitter shut down the company's access to @prnewschannel, presumably because of the pace and volume of the Tweets that had posted.

"I'm guessing this is equivalent to the electric company cutting off current to a home when there's a downed line or tornado," says Selig.  "I don't blame Twitter.  But it hampered our ability in getting a message out to our followers that we had experienced a problem, that although not caused by us, we were terribly sorry for it.  We wanted them to know that we would not intentionally do such a thing."

Selig says to get an immediate word out he sent a message via its corporate Twitter site referencing @prnewschannel and then distributed a press release via PRNewsChannel.

"We have worked very hard to establish our Twitter site (http://www.twitter.com/prnewschannel) and engage our followers on @prnewschannel and the last thing we ever wanted to do is aggravate them.  We have taken the appropriate steps to make sure this doesn't happen again," says Selig.

To anyone adversely impacted the snafu, the press release distribution company is offering 10% off any press release distribution.  PR NewsChannel says when placing an order, to mention "June 23 Twitter Snafu."  The offer is good for the rest of this June.

"I hope that Twitter users will see the value we place in @prnewschannel  and perhaps this will inspire anyone who left to return others to join us," says Selig. "Aside from this problem, we're having a blast on @prnewschannel."

PRNewsChannel says it is investigating with RSS2Twitter what happened to cause issue.

Links mentioned: 

@prnewschannel:  http://www.twitter.com/prnewschannel
Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com
PRNewsChannel:  https://prnewschannel.com

Contact:
Glenn Selig
Phone:  (813) 708-1220
Email: 
Website:  https://prnewschannel.com

SOURCE: prnewschannel.com

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