Social media startup iMindi, a new type of blog service built to act as a “Thought Engine,” faltered in its first steps into the public eye Monday, accidentally deleting 1,000 accounts belonging to beta users of the site. TechCrunch.com explains:
On Monday we wrote about iMindi, a new startup that first showed its stuff at TechCrunch50 in 2008. In the post on Monday we gave out 1,000 private beta invites, which were apparently snatched up quickly.
Then, disaster. The email iMindi sent out, which contains the dreaded phrase “we accidentally deleted all the user accounts” sort of says it all.
Luckily for iMindi their CEO, Adam Lindemann, is no slouch when it comes to crisis management. He quickly composed an email that went out to all former account holders expressing his embarrassment and accepting full responsibility. He also went on to explain the extensive measures iMindi has taken to ensure that such an incident never occurs again. A quick Google search will show you this incident is garnering far more good press than bad. Any business can suffer a crisis which thrusts them in to the public eye; the true test is whether they let it put them under, or use the opportunity to create positive buzz. I’d say iMindi’s passed this one with flying colors.
JB
Jonathan Bernstein
www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com