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.
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.
Correction: After receiving clarification from Fogarty, KPLR News removed its article from its website. Fogarty told the Daily Dot she did not mistake a fan Twitter for Bieber’s agent and that children at the hospital were not notified about Bieber’s impending arrival. This article has been changed accordingly.
“I was communicating via email to his agents but in NO way did we get confirmation from them that he was coming and we did not promise or confirm anything to anyone,” she wrote.
Photo via Lauren Lee/YouTube
