When Miami-based Burger King (BKC) announced its acquisition of Tim Hortons on August 26, the pundits went wild and consumers made mincemeat out of Burger King on social media. While the burger chain claimed they wanted to leverage their new Canadian partner’s breakfast expertise, financial analysts immediately started debating the financial benefits of Burger King relocating from the U.S. to a country with lower corporate taxes—a move known as “corporate inversion.” While it’s tempting to focus on this controversy, the back story of how BKC got to this point is far more interesting.
The greatest fear of many professionals using social media is making a mistake in a very public way. The hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet comes to mind, and if you haven't heard about Justine Sacco's twitterstorm earlier this year, you owe it to yourself to read this synopsis. While most of us are not that clueless, we do fear being called out for a tweet or a facebook post.
I wrote my first blog in 2003 as a way of keeping in touch with family and friends spread around the world. I had just arrived in California after spending three years in Japan, and I felt dislocated and homesick. The blog helped me work through some of these emotions and allowed me to share photos, stories and news. Although I kept it going for a few years, eventually my output petered out and months would pass by without an update.