Storify – Ben Grubb’s arrest at AusCERT, and the Qld Police Twitter timeline at @QPSMedia

With all the social media kudos being given to the Queensland Police Media unit in the last six months, this will be another instructive case study for them.

It may not be self-evident to the casual observer just from looking at the timeline of tweets below, but there’s a PR storm brewing over how Queensland Police handled the matter on Twitter.

Is this an example where a live response wasn’t the best tactic?

Twitter may have worked brilliantly for Queensland Police in the dissemination of emergency information, but they could have better handled the immense pressure they were coming under from Twitter users who demanded a response to Ben Grubb’s initial arrest tweet.

The main points of why this has turned into a very bad PR exercise for Queensland Police Media.

1. Be sure before you tweet; [blackbirdpie url=http://twitter.com/QPSmedia/status/70427773159735296]

2. Don’t snap back, or take the criticism personally, and; [blackbirdpie url=http://twitter.com/QPSmedia/status/70431825901785088]

3. Try not to appear flippant when acknowledging your mistakes [blackbirdpie url=http://twitter.com/QPSmedia/status/70630340032593920]

A good question during Stilgherrian’s live stream of Det Supt Brian Hay’s media conference at AusCERT was, “When was the last time Queensland Police arrested a journalist?” Anyone know the answer to that?

See Det Supt Brian Hay’s media conference on USTREAM here, or embedded in the Storify below.