Kristen Strmel Blog Post #6: The NASA Internship Incident: What to do When Your Intern Curses Out a Senior Member of Your Organization on Twitter
NOTE: This post will contain references to vulgar language, though they will be censored. Any links to uncensored language will contain a warning.
All organizations need a solid social media policy, but I think it’s safe to say that particularly large organizations need them more than most. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, after all. (Or you can argue that some organizations are just too big to fail, but I digress). You can’t just have a digital knight errant running around saying whatever while claiming to represent your organization. Especially if your organization happens to be a prestigious and well-known representative of new scientific frontiers that caters to children and adults alike. Like, I don’t know, NASA?
It’s pretty fair to say that most people would be pretty dang excited to work at NASA. A certain Twitter (yes, I maintain my crusade against calling it X) user known as Naomi H certainly was, when she took to said site in August of 2018 to express her excitement at having landed an internship at the organization. Her exact comment was, however, what we might call a bit overzealous. More specifically, it was, verbatim:
“EVERYONE SHUT THE F*** UP I GOT ACCEPTED FOR A NASA INTERNSHIP”
As a former long-term Twitter user, I can say that the initial expression is not a literal command for everyone who sees the post to, indeed, shut the F up; it’s generally used as an expression of excitement. I don’t expect people who aren’t in this kind of social circle to be aware of that, though. A user by the name of Homer Hickam doesn’t seem to have been, when he commented a simple warning against Naomi’s language in reply. Naomi’s reply to him, however, was, shall we say….a bit crass. The censored version of their exchange can be seen here–and as we can see, the consequences weren’t exactly great for Naomi. Turns out, this “Homer Hickam” was actually a pretty big deal in the NASA world. More specifically, he was on the National Space Council itself.
NASA eventually caught wind of this exchange–we’ll get to that in a second–and Naomi, unfortunately, lost her internship. Before we look at NASA’s response, I’d like to focus on Naomi and Hickam as NASA representatives, and whether or not they acted in accordance with this organization’s social media policy.
Here’s the policy in question. It notes that NASA representatives should keep things “G-rated” and refrain from posting vulgar language. Naomi’s walking a tricky line here–on one hand, she’s not posting on an account explicitly affiliated with NASA. However, she does mention NASA in the same breath that she utters a notorious swear word. It’s pretty safe to say that at this point, she was publicly affiliating herself with the organization, and definitely should either reworded her tweet or simply shared this information privately.
On the other hand, while I can understand Hickam’s decision to step in, his approach could have been a little better. Keep in mind that Naomi had no idea who Hickam actually was. For all she knew, he was simply an uppity old white guy trying to rain on her parade. That doesn’t mean she should have responded to him in such a manner, of course–but perhaps Hickam could have contacted her privately instead, introducing himself and explaining the risks of posting such a Tweet publicly.
To his credit, Hickam did try to assist Naomi once he learned that her internship had been endangered. He explains his mindset in an archived blog post about halfway down the page here (NOTE: this page contains an uncensored screenshot of Naomi and Hickam’s exchange). In his post, we learn something interesting: NASA’s rescinding of Naomi’s initial internship wasn’t even due to her own actions. It was because her friends apparently entered the fray with uncouth comments while using the NASA hashtag. This obviously caused the exchange to pop up on NASA’s radar, resulting in them pulling Naomi’s internship and leading to Hickam’s blog post above. It makes sense that NASA needed to act quickly in order to prevent their brand from receiving further negative attention, though it’s a shame that Naomi herself was collateral.
This same page notes that NASA interns receive a manual instructing them on proper use of social media. While I sadly do not have this manual on hand, this page on NASA social media guidelines hilariously contains a censored screenshot of Naomi and Hickam’s exchange as an example of how not to employ your voice as a representative of that organization.
So what do you think? Was NASA correct in rescinding Naomi’s internship, or did they prioritize protecting their brand over a potentially promising young intern? Could Hickam have taken a better approach, or was Naomi simply the victim of her own excitement?
Naomi was unaware of NASA's social media policy prior to being offered an internship. However, she should have been aware that much of her information is publicly available on the internet and that comments or posts she makes, however personal, may be searchable and viewable.
ReplyDeleteWhen my daughter applied to college over ten years ago, she was advised to lock down her social media accounts and be cautious about the language she used in comments. In addition, she was advised to remove any derogatory or "scandalous" images of herself on the internet. Although, for the most part, citizens of the United States have freedom of speech, language can be interpreted negatively and can affect one's application for college or a job. I agree with Hickam. If I were to read Naomi's comment, I might have warned her, too! My comment to her would have come from a place of advice, not criticism. However, Naomi's apology went a long way to get her accepted for a NASA position.
I agree with all your points! I think social media is so pervasive nowdays that people forget how easily their posts can be located. I'm always careful never to use my real name on any non-professional social media accounts as well (it's possible that "Naomi H" isn't this user's real name, but we have no way of knowing). I also agree that Hickam was correct in warning her, though I think he could have been a bit less vague in his initial reply. I also think this whole issue could've have resolved if he had contacted her privately and advised her not to make such a comment--not that he was under any obligation to do so, of course. While Naomi may have been young at the time of this post, I imagine she was still old enough to reasonably know that posting unprofessionally about her job on a private account could get her into trouble.
DeleteHi Kristen, thanks for another great post! What stands out to me most is the whole concept of a digital footprint and how Hickam actually had nothing to do with Naomi being dropped from the internship. I find it interesting (and scary) that one hashtag can make all the difference. The minute you enter a company's radar or become affiliated with them, your behavior is under scrutiny. It's reasons like this that I always think it's a good idea to keep your professional and personal life separate and to be careful about what you post in general. I agree that no one is the bad guy in this situation and both of their approaches, while flawed, are understandable. In my private life with friends I tend to swear like a sailor so Naomi's response is totally relatable (although I probably wouldn't have posted it on the Internet lol) and I appreciate how Hickam interacted to warn her but I 100% agree that a DM or who he was should've came first because then she might've taken his advice seriously. Otherwise, he could just look like a random hater. I'm glad this story had a good ending and it's further proof that libraries should play a more active role in digital literacy. Hosting workshops on Internet etiquette, how to make sure your record is clean for jobs/school/the future, and other best practices are all more relevant than we think.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it wild that this all came down to one hashtag? I totally get you on the different languages we use in our public versus private life! These two spheres can intersect on social media; couple that with the unique language social media spaces create, and you've got a recipe for a comment like Naomi's. It's possible that the phrasing she used was so natural to her that (particularly in the midst of her excitement) she didn't initially realize the broader implications of her post, though she certainly should have considered it afterwards. I do love the idea of workshops on Internet etiquette! This would be an interesting example to use...
DeleteThis is a pretty interesting example of social media policy! Being aware of the common slang to tell people to shut up when you're excited, I understand where Naomi is coming from. I agree that it was kind of Hickam to step in to try to warn her, but he absolutely should have just messaged her privately to say "hey, this might be a bad move." Not knowing who he was, and with the one word response, it was not clear that he was warning her.
ReplyDeleteNow, to be fair, Naomi's account was clearly public, and it would not be hard for NASA to track down which intern made this post, especially if Naomi H is her real name. It isn't a reach to think the organization may see the post.
But... she was not aware of the social media policy when she made the post. She only says that she was accepted, not that she was an intern at the time of posting or that she had signed any paperwork. It's likely she had just received her acceptance right before posting. Is she required to adhere to the social media policy if she was not yet officially a part of the organization? While her post may have been seen as a reflection of the brand, it seems like the initial post was pretty harmless. The responses after that, perhaps by her friends, may have warranted intervention, but to lose her internship seems like a jump when she hadn't technically been aware of or signed acknowledgement of the policy at the time. And certainly her friends are not required to adhere to the policy, they aren't part of the organization in any way, just using the hashtag.
Not to go off on a tangent, but engagement-farming posts typically use arbitrary, yet popular, hashtags to get more engagement. They may post a photo of dog with the caption "so cute!" but then the hashtags will be "#arianagrande #wednesday #foodie #wicked #homecoming2025." So, what if a post was made that did not follow NASA's social media guidelines, and the post used the hashtag #NASA? Would they be held accountable somehow for misrepresenting the brand? There is no way for the poster to be aware of the guidelines, so can they be held to them?
Again, I'm not saying Naomi was in the right, but it seems drastic to pull her from the internship program!
You make a really good point about Naomi's position at the time of her post! It's hard to say where exactly in the hiring process she was at the time of this post. Did she finish filling out the required paperwork, for example, only to then make the post? I've definitely made posts that represent past activities as occurring in the present moment because I was too busy to post them before. I wonder when NASA would have considered Naomi officially "part" of the organization.
DeleteOn the topic of engagement farming-posts: I think a conventional engagement post would probably be fine so long as it wasn't overtly slandering NASA. I imagine they got involved due to both Hickam's presence and whatever Naomi's friends were saying in tandem with NASA's hashtags. It seems like Naomi may have gotten unlucky, even if she shouldn't have responded to Hickam in the manner she did.