We have a new social media casualty for the “What were you thinking?” files.

You may recall the PR executive who foolishly tweeted about never wanting to live in his client’s hometown. Now we have Washington Post columnist Mike Wise who “experimented” with a knowingly false Twitter post.

In case you missed it, Wise posted a fake tweet about a reduced suspension for Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for alleged misconduct.  In a big dose of irony, Wise ended up suspended as well. 

Even though he quickly acknowledged that the post was a hoax, his violation of the Post’s guidelines for social media and intentional deviation from the principles of good journalism resulted in Wise having a month off to think about it. 

Personally, I applaud the Post for a couple of things in this case. 

First, the publication has a social media policy in place (something many companies STILL do not have). Second, it believes in the policy enough to enforce it (you can decide for yourself if it was too harsh or lenient). 

A good social media policy should cover approved, encouraged and prohibited behavior, as well as rights and recourses thereof.  In fact, the Post’s social media policy regarding use of Twitter is about as straightforward as it gets. 

This recent example of carelessness isn’t likely to deter others from jumping aboard the “Twitter train,” as described by Mike Bazinet of Terex Corporation on a previous G&S webinar I moderated for manufacturing equipment communicators.

Adoption of social media among B2B marketers continues to grow, so it’s critical to have the rules of engagement established now.

Wise, himself, says he exercised poor judgment.  On his radio show that aired the day after the Twitter commotion,  he said, “The radio studio, my computer, everything is a big echo chamber.  It’s self contained and it’s reviewable for scrutiny.”  He went even further saying that, “I don’t want any debate over my actions and the punishment received…Just know that the most sacred thing in my business – the business of journalism, not radio schtick – is getting readers to believe that what you are telling them is the closest thing to the truth you can ascertain.  And I didn’t do that yesterday.”

I couldn’t agree more.

(Guest contributor Steve Halsey is a vice president and leads digital and social media planning at Gibbs & Soell Public Relations.)