Why letting staff remark publicly is an idiotic idea

Will the experiment with unchecked commentary blow up in some company’s face?

Please tell me what is wrong with the passage below. (And I’m not talking about spelling or syntax, I’m talking about content.)

“Some companies are training staffers to broaden their social-media efforts. At Ford, Mr. Monty plans to soon begin teaching employees how to use sites like Twitter to represent the company and interact with consumers.

Coca-Cola Co. is preparing a similar effort, which initially will be limited to marketing, public affairs and legal staffers. Participants will be authorized to post to social media on Coke’s behalf without checking with the company’s PR staff, says Adam Brown, named Coke’s first head of social media in March.”

This is from The Wall Street Journal—an article already mentioned on this blog—which prattles on about how companies are using social media (specifically Twitter) to do something. I’m not sure what. On the face of it—to waste time, resources and budget. But hey! Maybe it’s just me.

But that’s not what this is about. No, this is about the wisdom of letting your employees have free and uncontrolled access to the media which, in effect, is what the good people at Ford and Coke are thinking of doing.