"The biggest lessons learned this year are in the social media sphere," says Michael Fineman, president of San Francisco-based Fineman PR. Each year, Fineman PR publishes a list of the "Top 10 PR Blunders" of the year. The list outlines the worst PR offenses in America that caused adverse publicity. This is the 15th year the company has published a PR blunders list.

In the 2009 list, "There are at least four or five blunders directly related to working with the Internet—or not knowing how to work with the Internet," Fineman says. "Social media and the whole online space have changed the dynamics of communications. In our society today, you have to understand that anything you say on the record can go out millions instantly. You can't underestimate the power of that—and you have to understand that you need your own communications to help offset any negativity you experience on the Internet."

Fineman says that, too often, "The only way people look for your business is by Googling you. If they come up with negative links, it's not good." This is the exact reason, Fineman says, that "organizations have to tell their story well on the Web."

Web crises clearly dominated Fineman's 2009 PR blunders list (more on that in a minute). But first, Fineman answers questions and offers tips and advice on how you can avoid the worst blunders in social media and PR:

What were the biggest mistakes in the social media realm this past year?

Slow response time. In the case of Dominoes, for example, you can't allow a video that ugly to go on for two days without responding. Ultimately, Dominoes eventually handled it effectively. But the images they allowed to run online for two days without any response did a lot of damage. They underestimated the power and impact of YouTube.

In the old days, you had to get on top of a crisis in the first 48 hours. Now, it's the first 48 minutes. In those minutes, you have a responsibility to contain the crisis and alert any audiences that may be in danger or are being impacted by the crisis. Your response must be instantaneous.

What can PR do to increase its chances for success when social media crisis strikes?

First, a Web master is an important part of your crisis team now. You have to monitor what's being said about you, evaluate it quickly and respond if that's what's called for.

Then, at the very least, you have to make a statement that says you're aware that you have a situation and are responding and investigating and that you'll send updates as they occur. We don't think "no comment" is a good response.

From there, we've created a preformatted webpage where you can fill in all the details of what happened—the five Ws. It's dark to start out, but with the click of a button it goes live.

Then, we select the various communications channels and forums to respond to, depending on the audiences impacted. You might also have to start contacting public agencies, in the case of a food crisis, for example.

Also, ensure that you're keeping an eye out for keywords. Ultimately, people will search for what happened on the Internet, and they'll be using relevant keywords to do that. Make sure you optimize your site around those keywords—so that when people search for them, they'll link to you and not someone else's communications about you.

We also counsel clients to have video available, as well as RSS feeds to bring out a stream of news. And of course, as in the old days, if the media calls, assume you're on the record. Don't say something like, "This whole place is going bonkers." Make sure you have a media policy already in place and that the right people are authorized to speak to the media about the crisis.

And make sure you don't place any blame or speculation. All the guidelines that are old hat are still applicable in a Web crisis.

What media monitoring tools do you use?

First, we dedicate a specific person to do all the monitoring. That person uses Twitter searches, TweetDeck, BackTweet, Facebook searches, Social Mention, Technorati searches, Google, Google blog searches and Quanicast.

What are your top tips for working with lawyers in crisis?

We coordinate with the law firm to develop strategies. We're very aware that lawyers are sensitive about information that goes out. While it's important for us to respond to the court of public opinion and protect the reputation of company, we also don't want to increase their exposure in the court of law. We communicate with lawyers to give them reassurance. We media train attorneys and help them respond using our methods. We also help attorneys when the media is the accuser.

We work toward building good will in the public sector when tough action is needed in court. When opposing attorneys are looking tough in court, we want to make sure the company is coming out with their own position that may be kinder and gentler—satisfying the public need to know without giving ammo to opposing attorneys.

We try to reverse the adverse affect of litigation. And as I mentioned, we media train attorneys. Attorneys usually think they know what to say and how to say it, but they often don't. Unless they get media training, they can't fully understand how they might be perceived. We give them information on what companies should be doing in crisis. We help attorneys understand the communications aspect and that it's not their expertise to give PR council. We help them understand that it's our job to help companies in the court of public opinion.

Why a list of PR blunders? What was the inspiration?

In the 1990s, we were struggling to help people understand PR. It seemed that marketing VPs and heads of companies didn't understand the value of PR. Oftentimes, I was coming from behind just to explain what we did and why it would be valuable. I started coming up with ideas and tactics to make people more aware of what PR is all about, the value, what it stands for, why people should be interested and why it's not all about spin. I wanted to undermine all the stereotypes about PR. I wanted to find a way to stress the true value of minding how you behave, and give a demonstration of why you have to communicate in a sensitive manner and be careful how these communications can end up looking.

What are the "Top 10 PR Blunders" on your list this year?

They are:

1. Military's Flop of a Photo Op. A "furious" President Obama was forced to order an internal review to determine why on April 27 a near-empty Air Force One VC-25 was allowed to fly at low altitude through Manhattan, seemingly pursued by an F-16 jet. The photo-op flyover to allow for iconic photography of Air Force One over the Statue of Liberty was arranged by the Defense Department and authorized by White House Military Office Director Louis Caldera. For people on the ground, though, it vividly recalled fears related to the 9/11 terror attacks and sent workers streaming out of office buildings and running through the streets in panic. ABC News reported that N.Y. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was also not informed, said that "poor judgment" would have been a nice way to describe the flyover. Caldera resigned and was replaced by deputy director George Mulligan.

2. "It's a Fork, It's a Spoon, It's a . . . Weapon?" (The New York Times). An enthusiastic six-year-old Zachary Christie, excited about having just joined the Cub Scouts, brought his Scout-style eating utensil, a combination fork-knife-spoon-can opener, to school specifically so he could eat lunch with it on September 29. Not only did officials at Delaware's Christina School District confiscate the utensil, they suspended Zachary and sentenced the A-student to 45 days in reform school in compliance with the district's "zero-tolerance" policy on "weapons," despite ample character evidence that the child acted naively and was not a danger. Mother Deborah Christie organized activist website helpzachary.com, sparking national media attention and sympathy for the innocent casualties of "zero-tolerance" policies, with The New York Times and other prominent publications reporting on numerous such cases. The district did allow the boy to return to school after an emergency school board meeting . . . that was prompted by the situation being featured on NBC's Today.

3. "Goldman Sucks," Blogs Financial Post Editor. After taking a severe media drubbing, it makes sense for the big banks to conduct public outreach demonstrating some level of humility. But many have criticized Goldman Sachs CEO and spokesperson Lloyd Blankfein for statements published in the November 8 edition of the UK's Sunday Times in which Blankfein claimed the company was "doing God's work." Diane Francis, editor-at-large for Canada's Financial Post, blogged that "Goldman Sucks" and derided its new small business support plan, noting that "If [the promised US $500 million] was a tip it would be an insult, particularly in New York. Goldman has set aside US $16.7 billion for year-end bonuses, equivalent to the total economic output of Bolivia or Iceland." Huffington Post blogger Charles Gasparino blasted Blankfein, writing that "What makes Goldman so contemptible is that its level of spin has almost no basis in reality."

4. "My God, They're Throwing Guitars out There." Musician Dave Carroll was frustrated by United Airlines' nine-month refusal to compensate him for $1,200 in repairs after he witnessed United baggage handlers literally tossing guitars, including his own $3,500 Taylor, during a transfer at O'Hare International Airport. In what Nielsen Online's Joshua Hammond termed "a true 'David vs. Goliath' moment," Carroll vowed that he would write and record songs about the experience—complete with music videos—and publish them online. The first YouTube video amassed over three million views in a single week. Within two days, United was in touch with Carroll, offering the long-awaited compensation, which he asked to be contributed to a charity of the airline's choice. Ben Mutzabaugh of USA Today described Carroll's success as demonstrating "just how quickly the Internet can help a disgruntled customer turn the tables on a company and its effort to manage its public image." Unbelievably, United let Carroll down again in late October, losing his bags while he was "en route to deliver a speech about customer service," according to CBC News.

5. Domino's Recipe for Disaster. When footage of Domino's Pizza employees fouling food was posted to YouTube in April, the company did not move quickly enough to counter the damage in today's online world. Videos showing two employees performing unsanitary acts quickly amassed over one million views within 48 hours. After two painful days, Domino's finally reacted, launching its first corporate Twitter account and posting a public apology on YouTube.  According to BusinessWeek, Domino's had become "the latest company to learn how quickly a brand can be tainted in a Web 2.0 world—and how important it is to monitor social media."

6. Kanye West . . . Wanted—Chief Reality Check Officer. Storming the stage in protest at a nationally televised awards show is practically an annual event for Kanye West, but his "performance" at this year's MTV Video Music Awards was particularly ill-advised. When an allegedly inebriated West took the microphone from teenage country artist and Best Female Video winner Taylor Swift, claiming that Beyoncé—not Swift—deserved the award, he crossed a critical line. According to Linda Holmes of NPR's "Monkey See" blog, "When you're a big-mouth and you get in a tangle with another big-mouth, nobody necessarily thinks the less of either one of you. You get in trouble, however, when you're picking on people who aren't even old enough to drink—unlike you." Later in an interview with Jay Leno, Kanye apologized and ashamedly acknowledged that his mother would have been disappointed.

7. "Kentucky Fried Fiasco," Reports Advertising Age. Fast food bastion KFC launched its new Kentucky Grilled Chicken offering on May 4 by working with the "Oprah Winfrey Show" to announce a two-day Internet coupon for a free meal. It seems like a marketer's dream, but Advertising Age reported it as "an unmitigated disaster" when millions downloaded the coupon and the company could not fulfill consumer demand and "actually had to rescind the offer." While KFC did indeed accumulate a "sea of buzz" for its efforts, it failed to fulfill its promise, leaving many consumers empty-handed . . . and angry. Linda Holmes of NPR referred to the incident as "a massive customer-service failure," adding that, "If you throw in with Oprah, you have to be prepared to serve America—all of it, at the same time."

8. We "Expect More" from Target. Human rights and immigration activists took aim at national chain Target for its pre-Halloween online promotion of an "Illegal Alien" costume that came complete with orange jumpsuit, extraterrestrial mask and, most controversially, a "green card" accessory. Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, called the costume "distasteful, mean-spirited and ignorant of social stigmas and current debate on immigration reform." Target spokespeople said the costumes were included in Halloween offerings "by mistake" and pulled them from its website.

9. Housing Crisis Solved . . . the Malibu Way. Retreats for bailed out execs may be last year's AIG Blunder, but the major banks still party on at home . . . or at someone else's foreclosed home. A Wells Fargo executive liked a foreclosed $12-milion Malibu property so much that she allegedly took up semi-permanent residence, using it to stage "eye-catching parties," according to the L.A. Times. What's more, real estate agent Irene Dazzan-Palmer told the Associated Press that Wells Fargo repeatedly refused to show the beachfront Malibu Colony home to potential buyers.  "[Wells Fargo's allowing] this to happen in today's ethically charged climate is quite suicidal," W. Michael Hoffman, executive director of Bentley University's Center for Business Ethics, told the Times.

10. Squawking over Tweets. Watch what you tweet—or you may be the next person sued for online defamation via social media. Chicago renter Amanda Bonnen was sued by her landlord, Horizon Group Management, when she posted, "Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon Realty thinks it's okay," on May 12 after disputes with the company. The company insisted that Bonnen's tweet somehow damaged Horizon because it was published "throughout the world." Bonnen had a meager 22 followers on Twitter by the time she terminated her account. But Horizon's suit was covered by major traditional and online media, including The New York Times, Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, TechDirt and the Inquisitor. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that according to a Horizon spokesperson, "The company has a good reputation it wants to preserve." Disconnect.