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Public relations disasters happen all the time, and come from all industries, but some will go down in infamy. Fortunately for businesses and public figures that haven?t been in the middle of a social media PR disaster, you can learn from those that have.

The first step to avoiding these types of disasters is understanding how they occur so you can limit the potential that they?ll happen to you. Here are five social media PR disasters you can learn from. Use these examples to develop a social media PR disaster recovery plan so you?re prepared in the event you find yourself in a negative spotlight.

1. United Airlines Tries to Ignore the Conversation:

In 2008, professional musician Dave Carroll sat in a plane on the tarmac preparing to leave Chicago O?Hare Airport when his fellow passengers noticed the baggage handlers roughly throwing their luggage, including Carroll?s $3,500 Taylor guitar. When he landed, his guitar was returned to him, but it was destroyed. Carroll spent the next year fighting with United Airlines to get compensation for his guitar.

Eventually, he turned to YouTube and uploaded a series of videos called ?United Breaks Guitars? that told his story in a humorous manner. At this point, he asked only for the company to admit its wrong-doing. The videos went viral, and ultimately, United Airlines apologized and donated $3,000 to the Thelonious Monk Jazz Institute per Carroll?s request.

2. Domino?s Pizza Employees Gone Wild:

In 2009, two North Carolina Domino?s franchise employees filmed a video of themselves doing some really disgusting things to food that was most likely later served to customers. They uploaded the video to YouTube, and within a few days, the video had over one million views. Domino?s responded by firing the employees, but the brand?s image had already been tarnished.

3. Dell Tries to Stop the Conversation:

In 2007, a former Dell kiosk employee sent a list of 22 confessions to Consumerist.com which outlined various tactics Dell employees are trained to use to get bigger sales from customers. Dell responded by emailing Consumerist and demanding that the blog article which listed the confessions be removed. Consumerist responded by publishing the Dell email on its blog, too.

As you can imagine, Dell was not happy and followed up with a cease and desist email from the company?s legal department threatening legal action if the blog post was not removed. Consumerist again responded by publishing that communication on its blog. Within a few days, the story had gone viral. This time, Dell wrote its own blog article which included ?Dell?s 23 confessions? and began with the simple admission, ?We blew it.?

4. Chrysler Gives up Control:

In 2011, an employee working for Chrysler?s social media agency, New Media Strategies, tweeted an update to the @ChryslerAutos Twitter account that outraged consumers and Chrysler. The tweet said, ?I find it ironic that Detroit is known as #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f#*!ing drive.? Chrysler responded quickly by deleting the tweet and did not renew its contract with New Media Strategies. The employee who wrote the tweet was fired.

5. Belkin Tries to Have Too Much Control:

In 2009, college student Alan Parsa stumbled upon a task from Belkin listed on Amazon?s Mechanical Turk (where people can publish tasks for others to complete in return for compensation).

The task required people to write reviews for specific Belkin products, but each review had to be written as though the person writing it actually owned and used the product (even if he or she did not). Furthermore, the product had to be given a 100 percent rating (the highest possible). As if that wasn?t unethical enough, the task also required people to find negative reviews of the product and mark them as  not helpful. The pay was $0.65 per review.

When Parsa read the requirements for the task, he didn?t think it was right, so he decided to publish a post about it on his personal blog. He included a screenshot of the task, and the story spread online incredibly quickly. Belkin issued an apology, but only after consumers began a Belkin boycott.

How to Avoid Social Media PR Disasters

Avoiding social media PR disasters comes down to a few important rules you need to follow. First, be honest in your online communications and activities. As Belkin learned, dishonesty will be discovered and does more harm than good.

Second, hire the right people to help you. If you work with a company that provides social media services, make sure you know the specific individuals who will handle your tasks on a daily basis, including their experience and track record as well as how their performance will be managed. Let Chrysler?s social media PR disaster be a warning to you.

Third, create guidelines for your social media team to follow and provide training and feedback so they understand what they can and cannot do. Give them the flexibility they need to be human and build relationships, but don?t drop them in the water without a map and paddle.

Most importantly, monitor your online reputation continually. You need to know what?s being said about both your brand and business, so you can react immediately when it?s necessary to do so. When a social media PR disaster does occur, act quickly and be transparent in your response.

[Image credits: Geoff Livingston, The U.S. Army]

If you?re the administrator of a page, you rely on Facebook insights to get better results. But you?ve probably noticed this data is never up to date.

The folks at PageLever (who provide even more detailed and useful analytics for Facebook pages) found themselves answering that question over and over again: ?Why is my data not up to date??

So PageLever created a new site called WhyIsFacebookInsightsNotWorking.com to give you the latest.

Notice the button below it that allows you to tweet the delay. Who knows- maybe that will put some pressure on Facebook to invest in servers that?ll be able to keep up.

Brian Carter is the author of The Like Economy: How Businesses Make Money With Facebook.

It wasn?t too long ago that Google+ announced it had crossed the 100 million member milestone. Despite its growth, finding people to connect with on the social network can still be challenging.

Unlike established networks such as Twitter and Facebook, you shouldn?t assume that your friends, colleagues, or customers are already there.

Google+ Circles make it easy for members to customize current connections and discover new ones. Here are a number of tactics, applications and techniques that will make the task of finding relevant people to Circle on Google+ that much easier.

Put Circles to Work for You

Your Circles page displays your current and suggested connections. When you first arrive on this page, Google will already have displayed a number of Top Suggestions ? these are the people the company recommends that you add to your Circles.

The Find People feature ? which can be accessed along the left side of the page ? lets you search for specific individuals, organizations, or brands. What?s great about this is that you can drag someone that?s already in one of your Circles to the Find People box and Google will provide you with related suggestions.

Another great management tip is to filter results between the people in your Circles and those that have already added you to their Circles, but haven?t been added to any of yours yet. Google+ also makes it easy for you find new connections through your address book. You can connect your Gmail, Yahoo! or Hotmail accounts and discover who?s already on Google+ and invite those that are not.

Unofficial Google+ Recommended Users

Although the site is in no way affiliated with Google, Recommended Users provides you with a hand-picked list of Google+ members worth adding to your Circles. The service lets you search for people based on topics that you?re interested in ? such as community managers, journalists, and so on.

For example, if you?re looking for bloggers, just click on its category to see results. You can easily add an individual to your Circles by clicking the Add to Circles button below his or her image. Additionally, the service welcomes suggestions in case someone has been left off of a list or if you have an idea for a new list.

#CircleSundays

For years Twitter members have been highlighting their favorite tweeters by using the hashtag #FollowFriday. Google+ has unofficially adopted a similar tactic where individuals add #circlesunday to a post recommending other Google+ members. This not only helps you find people to follow, but it gives you a chance to go into detail about why you?re recommending someone ? unlike Twitter, which limits you to 140 characters.

FindPeopleonPlus

FindPeopleOnPlus is a great source for finding people on Google+. One feature that sets it apart from other tools is that you can sign in with your Twitter or LinkedIn accounts to see which of your contacts have already joined Google+.

The service also has a massive people directory that you can search by keyword. You can narrow down your searches by category ? such as brands, schools, occupations and so on. After your first batch of results, you can refine them even further and filter by gender, age range, verified status, and more.

One of the best ways to find new people to connect with is by going directly to the source. Google+ has an active community, so why not ask some of your existing contacts who they are Circling? Once you?ve created a few Circles, consider sharing some of the more public ones with your community ? chances are they?re looking for new and interesting people to connect with as well.

[Image credit:

Less than one month after Twitter announced they would begin censoring tweets where justified, they are finding it hard to escape further controversy. Twitter?s initial announcement stated that where tweets contravened local laws, and government officials complained, they would review removing those tweets.

This was put to the test following an injunction filed in Brazil. Now Twitter are finding themselves embroiled in another scandal, as a digital rights group in France ?Internet Sans Frontières? are claiming that Twitter are involved in ?obvious censorship? as they have removed parody accounts of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, that the group claims are operating within Twitter?s rules on parody accounts.

To clarify, parody Twitter accounts are permitted (in the main) on the site, provided they are not attempting to actually impersonate the account in question, and that they use clear disclaimers such as ?fake? and ?not?. Sarkozy has only just registered his official account for the first time last week, and since then four parody accounts have been removed or blocked on Twitter: @_ nicolassarkozy; @fortefrance; @mafranceforte and @SarkozyCaSuffit. _nicolassarkozy (which contains ?fake? in the name) can still be accessed here, but has not been updated since February 15th. Suspiciously, this was the exact day that the real Nicolas Sarkozy started tweeting.

An official response from Twitter to the account @_ nicolassarkozy has also purpotedly been released, which includes:

?We have received a valid report that your account, @_NicolasSarkozy, is engaged in non-parody impersonation. Although Twitter firmly believes in the freedom of expression, impersonation that misleads, confuses, or deceives others is against the Twitter Rules (http://twitter.com/rules). Your account has been temporarily suspended due to violation of our impersonation policy.?

As of now, Twitter have not released an official statement in connection to this story.

The impact on freedom of speech

Somewhat worryingly, this is not the first time Sarkozy has been involved in a social media scandal this month. His new Facebook profile, which uses the Timeline layout, is missing controversial events from his political history, giving a rather one-sided view. Facebook themselves were drawn in, and issued a statement claiming that they are in contact with public figures, giving them help but ultimately remaining neutral.

While we await the outcome of the recent Twitter scandal, it?s worth thinking about the impact on freedom of speech as politics and social media move closer together. While this ultimately brings with it a lot of good: opening up a public dialogue and increasing access both to information and channels to challenge, it also brings risks.

It will inevitably become harder for social networks to remain free from censorship; as their reach and users grow, the pressure to regulate will increase. How the Sarkozy drama plays out will have a big impact on the future developments of social networks and censorship.

President?s Day is a time to remember the contributions of U.S. leaders from the recent, and not so recent, past; and Facebook can serve to connect users around the world with the nation?s unique history.

Facebook pages have enshrined the accomplishments of many of the nation?s great presidents. Here?s a look at nine of them, starting with the current Commander in Chief.

President Obama?s 2012 reelection campaign maintains a Facebook page with more than 25 million supporters.

Fans can expect to find frequent updates about policy issues to more intimate glimpses into his family life, like photos of daughters Malia and Sasha frolicking with the family dog.

Obama?s page encourages a two-way discussion about the issues that matter to people who like his page.

Since the nation?s 43rd president launched his Facebook page in June 2010, he has amassed over 1.7 million fans.

On Facebook, Bush supports programs like the Women?s Initiative Fellowship Program and highlights his world travels to countries as diverse as Haiti, Zambia and Ethiopa. Thousands of Facebook users like and comment on Bush?s posts: His 2011 Christmas card received more than 73,000 likes.

President Bill Clinton uses his Facebook page to promote the work of the Clinton Foundation, which brings together global business leaders and nonprofit activists in pursuit of climate and health access reforms.

Clinton frequently posts photos and videos from his world travels, and engages directly with Facebook users by challenging them to contribute to humanitarian causes like the Haiti Relief Fund.

President Jimmy Carter?s Presidential Library has an official Facebook page, with posts that seek to build on the former president?s legacy of promoting education and humanitarian development throughout the world.

Carter?s page features downloadable educational materials on humanitarian work and presidential history for teachers.

The Ronald Reagan Library and Foundation Facebook page serves as a collaborative experience for visitors and fans of the 40th president.

The library regularly posts memorable Reagan quotes and users have posted images and videos from their visits. The page was also a centerpiece for Reagan?s 101st birthday celebration this month.

And memories of U.S. presidents from the nation?s less recent past are also kept alive on Facebook.

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum page frequently posts notes and messages that provide glimpses inside the life of President Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis.

Hundreds of photos and personal notes are available for the page?s nearly 14,000 fans to peruse and share with friends.

President Dwight Eisenhower?s presidential library page has over 2,500 fans and posts updates nearly every day.

Recent posts have highlighted some of the musical performances at the Eisenhower Library, as well as marking National Salute to Veterans Week.

This year, the library commemorated Salute to Veterans Week with a photograph of President and Mrs. Eisenhower greeting wounded soldiers.

The nation?s 26th president is remembered with a user-created page that features more than 23,000 likes.

Fans from countries around the world routinely post quotes from Roosevelt?s speeches, vintage video from his 1904 and 1912 presidential campaigns, and images of Roosevelt on safari and on the campaign trail. The page is a testament to Roosevelt?s ability to inspire more than 100 years after his presidency.

Even one of the Founding Fathers has a Facebook presence, with over 14,000 fans collaborating to build the page called Thomas Jefferson: American.

The page is a decentralized project by Facebook users to build a prominent digital home for the third president. The page features links to Jefferson?s writings on political philosophy, as well as links to other political Facebook pages that are discussing Jefferson?s ideas and writings.