No matter what you do, social always gets the best of you in the end.

I heard about Skittles integrating with Facebook and Flickr, which on its own, is an innovative way to differentate it's web presence from other candy manufacturers. And can we all be honest here? Consumer packaged goods web sites are generally pretty boring on their own. How much can you really say about a fruit flavored candy wrapped in a rainbow colored shell? And we all know that these websites were really never intended as part of the purchase decision?

Stepping away from the endless number of sticky games, contests and promotions, this approach takes what consumers expect to see when visiting a candy website and turns the experience upside down. The issue – along with any social marketing execution – is the ability to give up control of content and how it is used. This is a risk that needs to be considered, especially when the visitors may be children.

So when I confirmed my age (by the way, I'm not sure who the legal loophole genius was who invented this concept and does nothing to really protect minors – that's for another posting) and allowed my Facebook to "connect" with the Skittles site, the above image is what I saw first, featuring a wonderful post by "Loui". I am sure that Skittles did not dream that their fans would provide such passionate wall postings.

So how does "MF" end up as Skittle's featured "adjective" on its "website"? It's human nature. When rolling out any social marketing implementation, marketers must always carefully think through how content may be inserted, modified and displayed by visitors. Any opening that provides a visitor to contribute content, also provides the same opportunity for negative, or at least, inappropriate content.

In this new age of giving up control of our content, we must all be prepared. Whatever that means.