Social media marketing opportunism during tragedy = fail
![jennifer-leggio-author.jpg](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/resize/b536fc8d4d28f5141f7e8d22b553f044c0fe9e44/2017/02/28/69ba7348-87df-4213-b490-581bec9920aa/jennifer-leggio-author.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&frame=1&height=192&width=192)
I wrote just a few minutes ago about the communication issues that stem from social media in the time of crisis, i.e. the Mumbai attacks. In doing some additional reading after posting my article, I ran across something that I find not shocking, yet abhorrent -- people spamming using the #mumbai hashtag to market their products or services. Here is the most prominent example:
![Social media marketing opportunism during tragedy = fail](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/2014/10/03/2179c3ee-4b34-11e4-b6a0-d4ae52e95e57/seanzy-copy2.jpg)
Twitter user @seanzyville (who I hope is deleted soon) apparently created this profile only to promote a CRM demo from Web Solutions. The links he has posted as shown in the screenshot above go to:
I wasn't the only one to find this behavior disgusting. I found the following tweet from Roberto Rocha, journalist for the Montreal Gazette:
I don't think I need to say much more. If your company is considering trying to take advantage of the brewing conversations about Mumbai on social networks to squeeze in news about your company -- don't.