Here’s one strong reason to become social media proficient—so you don’t let down an entire hospital full of sick kids.
When staff at SMM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center heard Justin Bieber was visiting St. Louis for a concert, they tweeted at the star to get his attention. After receiving a retweet from what they thought was Bieber’s agent, they were so positive the star was coming to visit that they got all the kids ready, only to be let down.
Rose Fogarty of the Children's Foundation associated with the hospital told KPLR St. Louis she was positive Bieber was coming. She’d received a call from a national organization scouting children's facilities in advance of Bieber’s trip, and Cardinal Glennon immediately figured they'd be the ones to get the visit.
"We assumed that would be ours because we were the only ones with a video out there,” she said.
The video, made by 13-year-old leukemia patient Lauren Lee, was a plea to Bieber to come hang out at the hospital. After @BieberTeamSTL retweeted the video, the hospital began notifying patients that Justin Bieber was coming to visit.
"We got a couple of re-tweets from his agent and I am 100 percent certain he saw the video,” Fogarty said.
The “agent” turned out to be @BieberTeamSTL, a local fan account.
Fogarty has since protected her tweets, but Oh No They Didn’t! saved the screencap:
In preparation for Bieber’s expected visit, hospital staff had already informed the patients. A St. Louis organization that gives musical instruments to kids in need had even donated guitars and drum sticks for him to sign for a charity auction.
Unfortunately, Bieber, who receives thousands of mentions a day on Twitter, did not end up noticing the tweets from @cardinalglennon or visiting the hospital. He left St. Louis for Dallas the next morning, where he actually did visit a hospital.
Let this be a lesson—a retweet is not the same thing as a promise. Especially when it’s made by a fan account, not the star himself.
Photo via Lauren Lee/YouTube