The Hazards of Social Media Engagement

It's a cautionary tale for the social media age. At Boston University, the dining department has been exceptionally proactive in using Twitter to engage students. But perhaps inevitably, one student set up a fake site that intercepted enough traffic and fooled enough students with irreverent Tweets about BU Dining Services to prompt a cease-and-desist order, according to the school's The Quad campus paper.

BU Dining sent the faux BU Dining Tweeter a message requiring him to modify his handle to clearly indicate it is a parody account. The BU poser-Tweeter seemed fairly harmless (and, frankly, pretty lame: his faux reply to one student's inquiry about why fresh Parmesan cheese disappeared from one dining hall was "Because it's Parma-Gone!" Dude, stop it before my sides split…).

However, more seriously, this is an issue that can increasingly be expected to vex forward-looking dining operators, especially in the college segment where dumping on dining is a venerable tradition and many students have the requisite technical knowhow to pose a problem. Directors who have found creative/effective ways to deal with Tweeter jokesters are invited to drop me a line in the comments below.