Bloomberg Plays Social Media Guru, Says Media Mogul Murdoch 'Should Stop Twittering'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn't understand why people just don't think before they tweet.
"Anything you send out is going to be re-tweeted, re-Facebooked, re-this, re-that," Bloomberg said Monday.
The mayor's comments came as he defended Fire Commissioner Sal Cassano's decision to suspend a FDNY emergency medical technician lieutenant, who allegedly tweeted out offensive comments directed at various groups, including blacks and Jews.
Bloomberg Plays Social Media Guru, Says Rupert Murdoch 'Should Stop Twittering'
Lieutenant Timothy Dluhos, 34, faced the disciplinary action after a New York Post report on Sunday that highlighted tweets. Dluhos reportedly cried and said his life was ruined when confronted by the paper at his Staten Island home.
Just last week, EMT and prospective firefighter Joseph Cassano, the son of the fire commissioner, was burned by ugly and insensitive messages he posted on Twitter. He later resigned.
Expanding on his thoughts, Bloomberg played social media guru as he said common sense must prevail when posting anything online.
"Write down, number one, only things you believe and, number two, then think about how it would look if somebody else sees it," Bloomberg said.
The mayor said "all sorts of First Amendment issues" would make the creation of a city-wide social media policy quite tricky.
He believes the bottom line is to think about whether what an individual writes will come back to bite them down the road.
Bloomberg even brought up Rupert Murdoch's social media behavior to a Post reporter.
"I've told your boss, I think he should stop Twittering," he said.
He didn't refer to Murdoch and his personal tweets by name, but when another reporter wanted to clarify whether the mayor had indeed been referring to the Australian-born media mogul specifically, Bloomberg joked "I don't know who that would be."
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