By Lyda Velez, Senior Associate

Tony La Russa, Source: Examiner.com

When I heard that St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa was suing Twitter over the claim that someone created an account under his name and sent out derogatory remarks that damaged his reputation and caused him “significant emotional distress,” I couldn’t help but wonder…

if Tony La Russa were my client, how would I have advised him to handle such a situation?

If, in fact, his reputation was so important to him, shouldn’t he have used the very medium that he is bashing to reach audiences and address the situation?

In today’s ever-changing digital landscape, it is essential for communications professionals to advise clients to think beyond traditional methods of communication to achieve their goals.

A slow economy and tightened budgets means focusing efforts in areas that will boost maximum results is critical.

In order to do that we must stay abreast of new mediums, like Twitter, and realize that reacting to situations the old-fashioned way, might not yield the results we are looking for.

In this case, the lawsuit could end up causing far more reputation damage than the original tweet ever could have.