The Good, The Bad, & The Sometimes Ugly Side of Social Media

Last night my wife and I were jolted awake by a cacophony of metal on metal. Laura shouted “what was that?” – I responded without hesitation “That was a really horrible car accident.” I threw on my clothes as quickly as I could and just as I was about the leave our bedroom she said “take your phone so you can call 911.” I ran out of our house, and onto the street. Lying upside down in the center of the street was one single car. Nobody was near the car. It was oddly still. As I ran closer it became more apparent that I was the first person to arrive at the scene. Another gentlemen met me from the opposite side of the street. He had just missed what had happened. I knelt down to see who was trapped inside – rapping on the window – and expecting the worse. I leaned in and said “hello, are you OK?” To which a woozy response came back “yeah, I’m OK.” The driver of the car was sitting right side up on the roof of his car. Dazed by the collision, but coherent. I dialed 911. As I waited there with the man stuck in his car in the middle of the street, we got to talking. I noticed a flask by his side. Not cool. I also noticed bills with his name on them. I asked him if that was in fact his name – it was. (I won’t use his name here of course). As the EMT’s showed, windows were smashed and more neighbors began to get out from their cars to see what had transpired. All of them photoed the incident. Two of them filmed the entire ordeal with their iPhones from the moment they arrived on the scene. I stepped back before they shattered the window to extract the man, but decided it would be inappropriate to photo him, the extraction, or anything else until he was removed from the scene. I did however, take this photo.

Social Media is Appropriate for Every Business …Period.

About 6 months ago my Father hesitantly asked me a favor. He’d scheduled an appointment with his friends and long-time financial advisors from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney: Richard L. Schneider and Ira Bauman. Dad is living with ALS (aka Lou Gherig’s disease), and is in a wheelchair. Requests like this have become the norm around our house. If I can’t help Mom and Dad, my brother steps in.