Realtor Sues Woman for a Tweet

I was incensed when I read the story on Mashable – Woman sued for $50,000 over a Tweet. This is such a bad story on so many levels. But the biggest loser will surely be Horizon Realty themselves.

Let’s think about this for a moment. This lady had 20 Twitter followers – even if half them were online when she Tweeted, that means 10 people may have read her Tweet about alleged mold in her apartment. Hardly a PR nightmare! But by taking this action, millions of people now know the story. Looking at trending topics right now, I suspect this will be one of the big social media stories of the month. And understandably, almost without exception, people are coming down heavily on the side of the Twitter user.

The first amendment is being talked about, the ridiculous state of litigation in the US is being discussed, and the company in question is looking very foolish. All this wasn’t helped by the classic comment from Horizon’s spokesman “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization” which is currently one of the most quoted phrases on Twitter.

Will this company recover from this huge mistake? Do they deserve to?

PS – If anyone from Horizon is reading this, would you like some help in devising a social media strategy for the future?