In the future, everyone will have their 15 minutes of shame

….So said Richard Torrenzano, in a presentation he made this morning to the Social Media Association of Long Island.

He calls this “digital assassination”, and describes it as rampant.

He, with coauthor Mark Davis, has written a book called, Digital Assassination: Protecting Your Reputation, Brand, or Business Against Online Attacks.

“Some men are not looking for anything logical, like money.

They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with.

Some men just want to watch the world burn.”

– The Dark Knight

Torrenzano says such slander goes back as far as graffiti in ancient Rome.

Seven Swords of Digital Assassination:

1. New Media Mayhem
2. Silent Slashers
3. Evil Clones
4. Human Flesh Search Engine
5. Jihad by Proxy
6. Truth Remix
7. Clandestine Combat

He says you have only 6-8 hours to respond to a digital attack! He used the example of YouTube pranks by Dominos Pizza employees, in which the CEO did respond…on YouTube…but too late; a delay which Torrenzano claims cost the organization millions of dollars.

Finally, he said that if possible we should keep our sense of humor, because sometimes that’s the best tool we’ve got.

---

In Industry & Networking Events