In case you haven’t seen the news:
The social-networking company secretly hired a public-relations firm to push stories critical of Google’s privacy practices. But the strategy backfired when bloggers and journalists disclosed Facebook’s behind-the-scenes role, forcing the company to explain its tactics.
Facebook hired WPP Group PLC’s Burson-Marsteller to pitch journalists and security experts on stories that questioned Google’s practice of collecting information from people’s Facebook and other social-networking accounts. Read more
Everyone involved at Facebook, Burson-Marsteller, and WPP Group is (or should be) embarrassed and ashamed. I wonder what they were thinking. Did they really believe they could use social media to run a behind-the-scenes smear campaign against a major competitor and get away with it? Social media is known for being transparent. Anyone that reads the news on a regular basis would have bet that this would have ended badly.
One might argue the case against firing the individuals responsible on the basis of character or ethics violations, but I defy anyone to argue that they shouldn’t be fired for incompetence.