One simple post caused an uproar for Brookfield Zoo guests recently. The following picture was posted by a Brookfield Zoo employee, apparently while at work and in front of a concession stand of sorts. To further indicate she was in fact at her place of employment when this picture was posted, she tagged her location as “Brookfield Zoo.”

 

 

 

This one post caused an outrage by several zoo customers, who learned of this picture, shared it, and then posted their thoughts to the zoo’s Facebook page.

The zoo indicated that they realized this incident after it was brought to their attention. This tells me that they are not actively monitoring social media, especially with regard to employee activity. It does appear that the zoo has a social media policy in place, as stated by Sondra Katzen in a recent article:

“This employee’s statements in social media are in violation of our policies and do not reflect our institution’s values. We have zero tolerance for these kinds of divisive behaviors. We treat all employment matters confidentially, but rest assured that we have taken prompt action to remedy the situation.”

How could this have been prevented? It’s possible that it maybe could not have been – social media spreads very quickly, and one post can travel faster than the speed of light, especially when it’s controversial in nature. However, if the right social media monitoring program is used, this type of content could be easily picked up quickly. The appropriate staff would be notified and the employee could have been dealt with efficiently, whether that means termination, having the employee remove the offending content, or any other actions that are needed in this case.

Why wait for customers to bring issues to your attention? This is an excellent case for routinely using a social media monitoring program for your organization, especially as it relates to employee social media policies. While I’m sure this will not likely be an incident that will result in guests not returning to the zoo, it is one that brings negative attention to the zoo. With the speed of social media sharing, it’s vital to prevent negative press as much as possible – social media monitoring is one tool to use as a preventative measure.