Questions You Need to Consider Before Retweeting Anything on Twitter

What you tweet says a lot about you. And so do your retweets. You can either use Twitter's retweet button or you can repost someone else's message by including "RT" at the beginning with the person or organization's Twitter handle.
But you should consider certain things before blindly retweeting something. Are you passing on helpful or harmful content? Whatever you retweet, it's important to get it right, especially if you use Twitter to network, attract customers or build your business.
Take for example Linda Sobeh Ali, the former Palestinian envoy to Canada, who was relieved of her duties after retweeting a link to a YouTube video that was racially offensive. Ali claims she didn't watch the video before retweeting it, but that didn't matter to her employer.
Here are questions to help you determine whether or not it's a smart idea to retweet something:
Am I aware of (and okay with) all of the content behind the tweet I'm about to retweet?
Often people don't fully read the articles, completely view the videos or even glance at the images they retweet. This is just as potentially problematic as forwarding an email you've never read.
If you don't have time to preview and digest the information you're retweeting, don't bother retweeting it. You could open yourself up to a world of hurt -- and your Twitter followers to offensive content -- like Ali and countless others have. The general rule here is to only retweet information that you are convinced is appropriate and not out of alignment with your personal, professional and company ideals.
Will this retweet hurt my image or my company's image?
Ask yourself if you would send the tweet you're about to retweet. If not, it's probably not a good idea to retweet it. Go with your gut feeling and steer clear of retweet foot-in-mouth tweets about sensitive topics that could be interpreted as offensive by your followers -- especially your current and potential customers and business partners. When in doubt, leave it out.
Retweeting content that could be deemed derogatory or disrespectful -- even in the slightest -- can be a surefire way to weaken your personal and professional brand value. Instead, stick to retweeting safe, neutral and positive tweets that are relevant to your followers and add value to their lives.
For example, if you run a children's educational toy company, it would be poor form to retweet content that's not strictly family-friendly. Instead, you'd want to retweet useful content that helps solve common child-rearing challenges. This might include retweets of links to videos that highlight quality family activities and children's craft ideas.
Relevant, carefully targeted retweets will likely deepen your connection to your target market, which could lead to retweets of your retweet and consequently potentially boost your brand exposure and sales.
Can I undo a retweet I might regret later?
If you retweet something you later wish you hadn't, the good news is that you can remove it from your timeline.
To do so, simply click on the Retweeted feature within the Tweet. If you did a manual "RT," simply delete the tweet like you would any other tweet -- just cross your fingers no one noticed it.
Remember, if you retweet something controversial or unseemly, even unknowingly, it could instantly damage your personal and professional reputation, perhaps beyond repair. Retweet wisely.

Yelp Co-Founder: 'There Has Never Been Any Amount of Money You Could Pay Us to Manipulate Reviews'

Yelp co-founder Jeremy Stoppelman is on the defensive again. This time, Stoppleman stopped by reddit for an AMA (Ask Me Anything) question-and-answer session where he fielded questions from owners who accuse the social rating site of bad business practices.
"There has never been any amount of money you could pay us to manipulate reviews," Stoppelman said during the online discussion. "We do have an algorithm that highlights the most useful and reliable reviews on our site which is about 75 percent of contributed content."Business owners have long accused Yelp of displaying mostly negative reviews on a business's Yelp page so that the owners will pay up in advertising dollars in order to have those bed reviews taken down.
In the AMA, Stoppelman -- also a former engineer at PayPal -- expanded on that issue and touched on a number of others. Here, we've pulled out the highlights from Stoppelman's answers.
On Yelp's review policy and filtering algorithms:
Millions of businesses don't pay us a dime and have fantastic reviews (only 57,000 of the 20 million listed on Yelp pay us). As you browse around the site you'll see reviews on any popular place. Word-of-mouth amplified at no charge.
We have a review algorithm that filters approximately 25 percent of contributed content automatically. We started our work on this in 2005 as soon as the site took off to ensure that the reviews consumers were reading were as reliable as possible. This idea and technology is something our competitors are now mimicking (hi Googlers!)
On Yelp's efforts to combat fake reviews:
Certainly shady businesses or "reputation management" firms do sometimes try to buy reviews. However we are constantly pursuing them with our own undercover sting operations. When we find businesses guilty of trying to purchase reviews we warn consumers by posting a consumer alert on their page and revealing the evidence.
On what he learned at PayPal and how it informs his own management style:
Joining [Paypal] gave me invaluable experience both in coding and later engineering management. I also built an incredible network of colleagues and saw the entire company lifecycle from young promising startup to public co. I think if you can spend a few years at a fast grower with a great "promote from within" culture that's a good risk-reward balance.
On what has and hasn't changed at Yelp over the years:
I still spend a ton of time with product and engineering, we do seem to get a lot more press attention these days, but perhaps most fortunately I haven't had to invest a lot of time with Wall Street (if you pardon the pun) ... our CFO Rob Krolik handles most of that.

How to Handle Negative Online Reviews

Q: How should small businesses respond to negative reviews through social media and on sites like Yelp?

- Dara Khautisen 
Chicago
A: Negative social media reviews, especially those that are potentially malicious, are near the top of the list of nightmare scenarios for small business owners and entrepreneurs. But don’t panic. The last thing you want is to become the next Amy’s Baking Company, the restaurant that became famous for lashing out at customers.
As a business owner putting your heart and soul into pursuing your passion, it’s all too easy to act first in the face of negativity and have regrets later. Hold your tongue.
Before you formulate a strategy for addressing criticism, you need to determine if the comment or review is true. Investigate before taking action. Could this be a competitor spreading a rumour or something that has happened that nobody’s told you about? Once you figure out the basis of the comment, follow the below steps:

The statement is factually incorrect:  

If a statement made is untrue (not just an opinion you disagree with), you have the right to ask for the comment to be removed or retracted. While in theory that seems simple, in reality getting a comment removed can be a tricky.

It can only be successful if you are able to provide conclusive supporting evidence which shows, without a doubt, the comment is factually incorrect. If you can't provide proof, the sad truth is you won't get anywhere asking for removal.
If you do have factual evidence and the site doesn't take down the negative statement or review, you should consider correcting the post in the comments section. Lay out the conclusive facts in a professional manner and don't make it personal.

If a comment is factually true, but negative: Make sure you present your side of the story, and be honest. If you can, add a comment to the post explaining your rational in a non-hostile way and how you plan on addressing the situation.

If you sense a protracted back-and-forth could occur, it’s a good idea to try and take the conversation offline. State your willingness to receive any questions or comments through email. Make sure you, or a senior-level staff member, personally addresses the complaint.
One tactic you need to avoid is creating new “personas,” or fake accounts, to support your position in blogs, forums and message boards, as you’ll likely be caught.
Remember prevention is better than a cure. This situation can often be avoided (or at least substantially mitigated) by ensuring you are tuned into social media at all times, not just when there's an emergency. Cultivate your business’s fans to proactively share their experiences and recommendations online. Consumers are smart enough to sniff out and ignore one odd-ball negative review in a sea of positive ones.