If you have been watching the news lately, you have undoubtedly seen the report of Tiger Woods' auto accident. Due to the nature of the accident and the actions taken by his wife, rumors immediately began circulating (well with the internet, it's more like spiralling out of control) about his marital relationship and his well being.

As a high profile sports celebrity, he should expect this sort of thing. He should also have a publicist who knows how to manage the social media and the world of internet sharing. Instead, he has placed some rather cryptic statements on his website as well as refused to speak with investigating officers...not a requirement by law but looking evasive to the public.

He is doing what some businesses do who find themselves being made notorious on the social sites and choose to:

(a) ignore it and hope it will go away

(b) throw out trite statements about any problems being handled according to policy

(c) send out messages that might have worked if they hadn't waited a week before issuing them.

(d) all of the above.

So, Businesses Who Have Not Decided What To Do About Negative Reviews and Publicity, you need to put together a plan that makes your activities transparent to the public as much as possible. Don't send out vague missives that can be misinterpreted or that sound patently false; be specific. Acknowledge the problem, if there is one, say how it is going to be corrected, and then do it. And say all of this in the appropriate venue as soon as you can, that venue being the social media that carried the negative comments.

Without transparency, there is no trust. Without trust, a customer will be unlikely to do business with you. There are simply too many other companies who do what you do and make what you make. Customer support, customer service, help desk, call it what you will, is going to separate you from the pack if done well.

Right now I would say Tiger has sliced into the rough. And he is unlikely to get a mulligan.