Apparently a rumor was going around that made its way into a “press alert” saying Jimmy John’s was going to have $1 sandwiches on July 1st in the Champaign and Charleston, IL areas as part of a customer appreciation day. This press alert made its way to a local newspaper writer who put the information out on Twitter. The newspaper she works for then retweeted the information out to all of its followers (2,165) and the information disseminated from there.
Two and a half hours go by before Jimmy John’s reply.
Jimmy John’s then does a very good job of going on clean up duty:
Hopefully the information that it was just a rumor follows the same path that the original message did and everybody learns that they won’t be able to get $1 sandwiches from Jimmy John’s on July 1st but inevitably there will be somebody that doesn’t get the follow-up message and shows up at Jimmy John’s tomorrow confused.
People affected by this Internet rumor:
- Jimmy John’s – some disappointment
- The journalist – some loss of credibility
- The newspaper- some loss of credibility
- The PR company, Dig Communications – Is somebody spoofing in their name or did they misfire before an upcoming event?
- Hungry people that already made plans – inconvenienced as they have to make new plans or when they show up tomorrow and have to pay
Lessons learned:
Confirm your sources from the tiniest tweet to the largest investigative journalism report.
Further proof that you have to be on social media in order to control your involvement in them. Whether you’re a person or a business, somebody could be lying about your business or tagging you in pictures you don’t want to be identified in. You can’t control it unless you’re apart of it.