What Were They Thinking: Nov. 8, 2013

Home Depot, like many large companies, outsourced the running of its Twitter feed to a nameless marketing "agency." When the agency posted a racially offensive tweet, HD acted swiftly to sever its relationship with the agency. Read about it here: http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2013/11/07/home-depot-tweets-alleged-racist-photo/

Brad Shaw of Home Depot, via Ad Age
Maybe the practice of entrusting your brand presence to an outside contractor isn't as disastrous as it sounds. But someone, somewhere needs to have a broader perspective. With Twitter's huge IPO taking place this week, all eyes were focused on the micro-blogging site. Brands can live or die on Twitter.

The irony: two years ago, Ad Age lauded Home Depot for its internal team's social media acumen.Why did this strategy go off the rails?

So cheers to Home Depot for cutting its ties with an insensitive agency. But who the heck thought placing HD's online brand in the hands of a non-employee was a good idea to begin with?

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