The Orlando Sentinel pointed me to the fact that SeaWorld has silenced Shamu as the voice of one of its Twitter accounts.
Shamu had more than 10,000 followers and tweeted Thursday afternoon, a day after the killer-whale attack that drowned a trainer in Orlando: "At this difficult time, @Shamu will not be active. For Twitter updates follow @SeaWorld_Parks. http://bit.ly/b0oU3l"
Although SeaWorld was sensitive enough to silence Shamu's sometimes-irreverent tweets, the company has not withdrawn from social media because of the tragedy.
SeaWorld, which operates facilities in Orlando, San Antonio and San Diego, has posted a handful of blog updates since Wednesday.
For example, SeaWorld uses the blog to address what will happen to Tilikum, the orca whale that killed the trainer.
“Many people are asking about the future care of Tilikum, the whale involved in the incident,” SeaWorld states. “We have every intention of continuing to interact with this animal, though the procedures for working with him will change. We are still reviewing this incident and will evaluate the situation and make a decision accordingly.
“We are open to comments from you, our blog readers. However, as a policy, any comment that uses foul language or could be hurtful to the trainer’s family will be deleted. We appreciate everyone’s understanding and will share more information as it becomes known and available.”
SeaWorld continues to use its SeaWorld Parks Twitter account and posted streaming video of a SeaWorld press conference in which park officials said they will resume the Shamu Believe show in Orlando, San Diego and San Antonio on Saturday, although trainers won't be allowed in the water, according to the Los Angeles Times.
In this kind of situation, silence is never golden and continuing to engage consumers through social media can only help.