diff --git a/app/controllers/status_messages_controller.rb b/app/controllers/status_messages_controller.rb
index 3a9245637106ce3a4ed12c28bee25df016ca9986..f21bad4694e008cf59f005afd86cf7fb412362b3 100644
--- a/app/controllers/status_messages_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/status_messages_controller.rb
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ class StatusMessagesController < ApplicationController
     public_flag.to_s.match(/(true)|(on)/) ? public_flag = true : public_flag = false
     params[:status_message][:public] = public_flag
 
-    @status_message = current_user.build_post(:status_message, params[:status_message].merge!(:message => ''))
+    @status_message = current_user.build_post(:status_message, params[:status_message])
     aspects = current_user.aspects_from_ids(params[:aspect_ids])
 
     if @status_message.save
diff --git a/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb
index 49caa02ec3eda73abe4f0e5abbed45c96834bfa1..bb7d5c315c78c8fa11ee886c9ed2d8025a74cfa8 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ describe StatusMessagesController do
     end
     it 'sends the errors in the body on js' do
       post :create, status_message_hash.merge!(:format => 'js', :status_message => {:message => ''})
-      response.body.should == 'Status message requires a message or at least one photo'
+      response.body.should include('Status message requires a message or at least one photo')
     end