This may be one of the more absurd cases of professional misconduct I have ever seen in the public relations industry.

Apparently fueled by incompetence, 5WPR, “the nation's fastest growing public relations firm three consecutive years,” (according to their Website), is being accused of ignoring the number one rule in social media — participation must be authentic.

In a story that first broke on July 9, 2008, the powerhouse PR firm appears to have been busted for blatantly impersonating people (including a prominent rabbi) online on behalf of its client, Agriprocessors.

Take a few minutes to read the following posts, but here are excerpts from Gawker.com that provide a snapshot of the situation:

• After being hired for its Internet PR expertise, 5WPR attempts to plant fake comments from both supporters and (most deviously) critics of the kosher slaughterhouse on various websites.
  
• This scheme unravels because the company doesn't bother to leave its office or mask its IP address when posting.
• PR firm blames an unnamed, unpaid "intern" for the fraud. Says this "intern" has been fired.
• This story starts to unravel because, as blog Failed Messiah notes, the first two impersonation posts appeared in February, "well before any summer interns were working at 5W."
  

Scheme To Blame Intern For PR Fraud Unravels — Gawker.com (July 11, 2008)

5W faces accusation for blog misconduct — PR Week (July 10, 2008)

5WPR Scares Holy Man With Sock Puppet, Blames Intern — Gawker.com (July 10, 2008)
 
Flacks for Agriprocessors Admit Online Impersonation of Meat Company’s Critics — Jewish Daily Forward (July 10, 2008)

5WPR Flacks Get So Freaking Busted Impersonating People Online — Gawker.com (July 9, 2008)

5W PR Illegally Impersonates Hechsher Tzedek Founder Rabbi Morris Allen — FailedMessiah.com (July 9, 2008)

Welcome to crisis communications 2.0.

For those corporations and professionals who have not figured it out yet, everything you do online, whether under a real or fake name, is traceable.

As we continually reinforce to our clients, social media can be a powerful communications and branding tool, but your participation must be authentic.

Those who don’t adhere to this basic principle will eventually get "flame broiled."

Burger King is the latest example of a corporation failing to grasp the power of social media. A May 18 Miami Herald article, Burger King's virtual missteps `a cautionary tale', tells the story two employees fired for ''unauthorized activity'' on public websites that didn't “reflect the company's views.''

Plus, according to the Miami Herald, a Burger King Vice President posted comments under his daughter's screen name attacking the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a farmworker advocacy group. The comments accused the coalition's leaders of pilfering pay increases they had negotiated for migrant workers and “reaping millions in cash from unknowing or duped supporters.''

According to a May 13 Associated Press story, “Burger King is in a public relations feud with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers over how to improve wages and working conditions for Florida's tomato pickers.”

So what can we learn from Burger King? Every business must take social media into account when building its crisis communications and management strategy, starting with the Big 3:

1. How can social media create crisis situations?
2. How can social media be used to manage crisis situations?
3. What actions should we take to understand & integrate social media?
   

Then, drill down to the primary social media channels, and consider their potential impact on your organization. For example:

Blogs & Crisis Communications

• How can your business utilize corporate blogging - both internal (private) and external (public) - as a crisis communications tool?
• What damage can be done to your brand if you are not proactive about monitoring and contributing to blogs?
• How can influential bloggers impact perceptions about your business?

Social Networking & Crisis Communications

• What new crisis scenarios may arise as a result of employees, customers and businesses participating in social networks?
• What are employees doing, saying on social networking sites? Is it even your business?
• How can social networks be used to manage crisis situations?

Online Forums & Crisis Communications

• What forums should you monitor? Participate in?
• What’s being said about your business in forums now?
• When your organization chooses to participate, who has the authority to be the “voice?”

Relevant Links:

Associated Press: Burger King fires 2 after blog controversy
Miami Herald: Burger King's virtual missteps `a cautionary tale'
PR Junkie/Ragan.com: Is Burger King the new Wal-Mart? Let's count the ways