Social Media Case

President Donald Trump is not an effective professional communicator.

In the College of Dietitians Online Resource Manual, dietitians are encouraged to follow a few simple rules for communicating professionally on social media, including the following:

1.     Never identify a client online
2.     Respect for Others
3.     Professionalism

While President Trump is not a dietitian, I would propose that his duty to be professional should include and exceed all the rules of dietitians, since he is the president of the United States. His tweet on Sept. 23, 2017 read, “Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!"


 He violated both of the above-mentioned rules for dietitians. He identified someone by name online, which is inappropriate and unfair. He also was disrespectful and condescending. Not only that, he comes across as immature, which is definitely not how we would want the ultimate representative for the United States to act.

I am not the only one who agrees Trump was not professional in his tweet regarding Stephen Curry. In The Root’s article by Michael Harriot, he satirically writes:

“That’s right. While you were sleeping—as the country stands on the brink of thermonuclear war; while affordable health care is about to be stripped from millions of Americans; as tornadoes, wildfires, earthquakes and Godzilla (no, wait, that’s Kanye) try to kill us—the president of the United Gotdayum States of America is up early starting Twitter beefs.”

President Trump also shows his lack of professional communication prowess in his tweet regarding how he believes people should show their respect during the National Anthem. His tweet reads:

 “If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL, or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU”RE FIRED. Find something else to do!”

He is making claims he has no right to make. As stated in the above-mentioned dietitian resource manual, he is not being professional, but allowing his personal beliefs to infringe the rights of others. He is acting as a bully, which is not appropriate for anyone on social media, but especially not the president.

According to an article on USA Today, this was a poor move for a should-be-professional communicator. “Patriots CEO Robert Kraft, a friend of Trump's, issued as (sic) statement Sunday morning saying he was ‘deeply disappointed by the tone of the comments made by the President on Friday. I am proud to be associated with so many players who make such tremendous contributions in positively impacting our communities.’” The president of the United States should not make comments on Twitter considered “disappointing” or “offensive.” Instead they should show professionalism and respect.


President Trump has been improper many times during his short presidency. It is unfortunate that our nation is being judged on his unprofessionalism. It definitely wouldn’t hurt him to have someone proofread his tweets and other statements he publicly makes. Until he humbles himself to do this (which will likely not happen), I am sure we will continue to see plenty of inappropriate Tweets.

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 4, 2017 at 4:06 PM

    I really like that you included those three rules for online professionalism and incorporated it so well throughout your post. Great organization, and I agree with you about all you said about Trump's twitter. Good job!

    ReplyDelete
  2. madilynngooldOctober 5, 2017 at 8:54 PM

    I appreciated you bringing in other sources outside of what was typically thought about when thinking about this case. The three rules of communication for dietitians really should be applied to all people- and I find it sad that our President does not apply those rules. I also enjoyed the tweets that you included right in your post so people can see what Trump actually posted. Looks good!

    ReplyDelete

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