Another Scheduled Social Post Goes Awry, Joan Rivers Endorses iPhone 6

Even after death, famously self-deprecating Joan Rivers is still giving what-not-to-do lessons: “Can we talk?”

As in if you are going to schedule a social media post far in advance, make sure the message hasn’t become outdated or inappropriate when it’s published.

Today, the late comedian’s Instagram and Facebook pages posted an endorsement of Apple’s iPhone 6. The posts were quickly deleted, but not before TMZ snagged this screen grab:

This badass is being replaced by an iPhone 6 (not the fat one). I got this one in 2010, and after four years, my only complaint is that applications are now designed for bigger screens, and the battery is getting tired. Never had a case for it, since it was most beautiful on its own. Great achievement in design. Great product. #apple #iPhone #tech

Apparently, Rivers struck a promotional deal with Apple to promote the new phone before her death on Sept. 4, which was also five days before Apple formally introduced the iPhone 6 and 6+. Then her social media team or manager scheduled an Instagram post (almost certainly using a third-party platform since Instagram apps don’t allow for advance posting) to publish on the launch day. Forgotten in the hopper, the Instagram post went out this morning and auto-triggered the Facebook post and provided two discordant notes on pages that have served as tribute accounts since Rivers’ death.

It’s obviously an extreme situation, one that few social media marketers will ever have to deal with, but still serves as a good cautionary example of the importance of checking your auto-publication schedule for unintended consequences.