Openness of Social Media

How does context effect response?

For an interesting discussion and reaction to just one tweet that said in part - "I would die if I had to live here" - see David Henderson's "How not to be a key online influencer". Its the story about a vendor visiting a client's city to present and made the above point. The discussion (230+ comments) illustrates that we still don't quite have a handle on the appropriateness of social media as a personal tool when part of a larger business relationship.

This makes for a great case study. The questions I posted on the original post are about context:

1. What would have been the response if the tweet came from their largest client instead of a vendor?
2. What if the tweet came while on vacation instead of on the client’s dime?
3. How do B2B relationships differ from B2C relationships?
4. What expectations should a client have regarding a vendor’s staff participating in any public communication program?
5. How would this scenario have played out in a different industry? say a patent lawyer tweeting about a client’s product
6. If the tweet were from an executive coming to speak about upgrading the inventory management system, would it be different?