The lessons behind a tweet

By on July 29th, 2009 In Social Media

According to Mashable, a woman being sued for a tweet she made about her apartment building was the most re-tweeted story yesterday and caused a lot of discussion and news stories.

Of course, it makes you think twice about what you tweet or post online, but the real lesson here was what the company suing should have done by using the power of social media instead of a lawyer. Settle it online and improve your image that way. Also, if mold in apartments IS an issue, you should be addressing it physically.

Instead, one remark really made Horizon look bad. A representative said “We are a sue first, ask questions later kind of organization.” Wow. Would you recommend your client to say that EVER?

When I talk about the power of social media to businesses and organizations, I try to explain how you can use it to solve or improve the image of an issue or problem that may be addressed online. Thats what Horizon SHOULD have done instead of sue this woman who had 20 followers. Many people have found when they complain online, they can have their issue addressed and solved immediately by customer service. Those companies, such Southwest understand that a bad remark can spread like wildfire online and if you can nip it in the bud, contact the person scorned and solve it, the complainer will usually sing your praises and the biz is seen as proactive and helpful.

Check out this post by Jay Thompson that I saw on Twitter this morning. He offers some great info about what the discussion online did for the google searches, hits and reviews done on the company after the news went online. As Jay commented later after the post “I never bought the “any PR is good PR” mantra. Agreed that Horizon had NO IDEA what this thing would do. Telling evidence that every business today needs to understand how social media works.”

Yes, we should be cautious of what we do online, but we should also have some policies and procedures in place on how to react to negativity, too. Something to think about and discuss with your team and clients as you move forward with what you do online.

Comments

Tyler Hurst Says:
July 29th, 2009 at 9:54 am

I called these people yesterday and offered them help. Not joking. Apparently they didn’t take me seriously.

Marketing Sociologist Says:
July 29th, 2009 at 11:33 am

There’s an old saying that he who controls the presses controls the power. That’s why the Internet is such a wonderful place. It allows us to practice what this country was founded on, freedom of speech.

A great example is the guy who posted the video about United breaking his guitar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

I blogged this morning on the Chicago story – How to practice BAD public relations
http://marketingsociologist.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-to-practice-bad-public-relations.html

My favorite quotes were: lawyer Bret Rappaport referred calls to the company, which in turn declined to comment.(fantastic PR)

“inviting a PR nightmare” said Sam Bayard, assistant director of the Citizen Media Law Project

Evo Terra Says:
July 30th, 2009 at 7:51 am

A butterfly flaps its wings and a typhoon hits across the globe.

If there were ever a perfect internet metaphor for this adage, this could be it.

Tony Felice Says:
July 30th, 2009 at 3:15 pm

Ok where do we draw the line between complaining about bad service or brand experiences and being sued for libel?

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