If you were paying any attention to “social media” yesterday, then you heard about a real estate property management company in Chicago by the name of Horizon Realty Group.

Yesterday morning I wrote an article about Horizon filing a $50,000 libel suit against Amanda Bonnen, a Twitter user with 20 followers that sent out a Tweet in May. The end of that piece said, “Just watch. The carnage is going to be ugly.”

And ugly it was. A company spokesman saying, “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization” tends to get people talking.

Within a few hours, Horizon Realty became a “trending topic” on Twitter. For those not familiar, that means that Horizon was one of the most talked about topics on Twitter, a service that has millions of users.

You can see the 1,500 most current Tweets about Horizon Realty here.

“Big deal,” you may be thinking. “So a bunch of nerds on Twitter let some company have it. Who cares?”

Horizon Realty should care. Anyone concerned with their companies reputation should care.

However, unless you’re Michael Jackson, and you’re dead, trending topics on Twitter tend to be short lived. Horizon has already fallen off the top trending topic list. In a few days, no one will be talking about them on Twitter.

But the reach of social media goes beyond Twitter.

Let’s take a peek at what else has happened with Horizon Realty in the last 24 hours.

Google “Horizon Realty Chicago” or “Horizon Realty” or any of several variations and you’ll see their (nice) website sitting in the number one position. And you’ll also see 4 to 7 other first page results that refer to Horizon’s propensity to sue first, ask questions later. If you are looking for a property management company “looking to be their client” this may just sway you to look elsewhere.

Go to Yelp, a community-based site where people leave reviews. Yesterday, on the review page for Horizon there were three reviews. Not exactly glowing, there were only three. Today there are 21 reviews, and Horizon is solidly a one star affair.

Google Blog search now shows there are 3,814 blog posts indexed about Horizon Realty. 477 about Amanda Bonnen, and 1,410 pages are indexed that contain the term “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization” (up from 56 at the time I wrote my article yesterday).

Horizon Realty now not only has a mention in Wikipedia on the Streisand Effect, they’ve got their own page on Wikipedia.

Twitter comments may be fleeting. Google never forgets.

To be fair, Jeffrey Michael, a Horizon spokesman / co-owner (and now the proud owner of 2,870 mentions on blogs) issued a press release where he said the “sue first” remark was a “tongue in cheek” comment that was “not in line with our philosophy towards property management and was taken out of context”.

That’s too little too late Mr. Michael. And let’s not blame your incredible PR gaffe on someone in the media taking a “tongue in cheek” comment out of context. You blew it, plain and simple. Your one page press release issued after the shit storm had already blown up ”a press release that really tends to blame the Twitter user” was largely ineffective in stemming the groundswell of negative press your company is receiving.

It wasn’t the original Tweet that damaged Horizon’s reputation. That was seen by a couple of dozen people, tops. And while many feel a lawsuit for a single Tweet is ludicrous, that wasn’t the main factor in tens of thousands of negative comments being made about Horizon. It was the asinine “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization” statement, and the glaring lack of timely follow up and sincere apology that crushed Horizon’s reputation.

Here’s an idea. Short of hiring a social media reputation expert (for which if there ever was a need, this is it) why aren’t you reaching out in the social media space to try to fix this? Obviously you can’t respond to every comment. But you could respond via Twitter, via blog comments, via a prominent, sincere, non-finger pointing at the other guys statement on your own web page (the press release is nowhere to be found if you go to horizonrealtygroup.com).

Go ahead, stick your head in the sand. Blame everyone else. Hope the Twitter stream dies down (it will, although there have been 87 new Tweets about Horizon in the 30 minutes it took to write this). But again, Google never forgets. And if you are a business “especially a service-based business” and you think people won’t use Google to check you out, think again.

Others Opine:

CopyBlogger – What the Horizon Realty Fail Can Teach You About Social Media

 

Photo Credit: fireflythegreat on Flickr. Creative Commons License.

From deep in the “how to royally screw up your reputation via social media” files comes this gem.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported yesterday that Horizon Group Management LLC, an apartment leasing and management company, has filed a libel suit against former tenant Amanda Bonnen.

Apparently Ms. Bonnen sent out a Tweet on May 12 that read in part:

Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay.

Horizon Realty Group didn’t like that, and has filed suit.

Here’s the real kicker in this whole thing

Jeffrey Michael, whose family has run Horizon for more than 25 years had this to say:

"The statements are obviously false, and it’s our intention to prove that."

He said that while she moved out recently, the company never had a conversation about the post and never asked her to take it down.

"We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization”

My emphasis in bold.

That bears repeating”¦ Horizon Realty Group goes on the record in the mainstream media as a “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of organization”.

Un-freaking believable!

They are seeking $50,000 in damages.

Well Horizon Realty Group, you just did far more damage to your reputation than Ms. Bonnen could have dreamed of.

CBS2 in Chicago reports that the suit contains language that because Bonnen’s Twitter account was set to public, “everyone following on Twitter can view the defamatory statement”.

Well yeah, if they happened to be viewing the public Twitter stream at the moment the Tweet was sent. Ever watched the public Twitter stream? Things fly by in nano-seconds, only to be lost in a sea of a bazillion hourly Tweets. In reality, the only people that had a real chance of seeing this Tweet would have been. Ms. Bonnen’s followers.

Podcasting News reports that Ms. Bonnen had all of 22 followers in her now inactive Twitter account.

So at best, 22 people saw the Tweet that Horizon Group Management claims, “greatly injured its reputation as a landlord in Chicago”.

And how many are seeing now that Horizon is a “sue first, ask questions later kind of organization”??? Hundreds of thousands, easily. (Could, literally, be millions. This is now a “trending topic” on Twitter.)

What we have here is an epic fail on the part of Horizon. By their own admission, they never had a conversation with the complainant, they never asked her to delete the Tweet. Apparently they did nothing to mitigate this problem other than file a libel suit that is now being discussed across the Internet.

Fifty grand?

You just cost yourself a LOT more than fifty thousand Horizon. If you think Amanda Bonnen hosed your reputation with a Tweet seen by a couple of dozen people at best, then you haven’t seen anything yet. Your “sue first ask questions later” mentality may soon be in business school case studies about how to completely and utterly blow it when it comes to new media /social media PR.

Just watch. The carnage is going to be ugly.

 

Update: One hour after posting this, the count on a Google blog search for “Amanda Bonnen” has gone from 74 to 112 results. A Google search on “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization” has gone from 56 to 146 results. Posts, including this one, are already on page 1 of Google for search terms related to Horizon Realty Group, Horizon Group management, etc.

Update 2: And now the mainstream media heavyweights are weighing in… Wall St Journal here and here, USA Today.

Here is the actual Tweet that started this whole thing:

Here is the actual law suit filing (via Chicago Now).

Update 3: Horizon Realty has issued a press release in response to the, uhm, let’s say “overwhelming” response to their lawsuit. From Jeff Michael, of the now infamous “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization” quote.

Others opine:

The Consumerist
Mashable
Chicago Tribune Blog
The Inquisitr
Chicago Now

A Google Blog Search for “Amanda Bonnen” yields 74 results. And counting”¦

A Google search of “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization” yields 56 results. And counting”¦

Hat tip: @evo_terra

Photo Credit: Damien Basile on Flickr. Creative Commons License.