So we all know that Twitter can be used for good. We see lots of corporate ‘big wigs’ on twitter, micro-blogging about all the positive things their companies are doing-- events, green initiatives, blah, blah, blah.
But, has anyone ever thought of the downside to twitter?
I read this article, and it is becoming quite apparent that spreading the word through twitter can have a negative impact on an organization.
Poor Amazon. What a PR nightmare! I mean, not that they don’t deserve it, but without the widespread messaging that is innate to twitter, would people have noticed that gay and lesbian themed books have somehow disappeared off the best-seller ranking list?
Sure, people may have noticed, but once something gets posted on twitter, things can surely spiral out of control, which is exactly what happened when an avid tweeter discovered the book giant’s ‘error’.
Throw is some eager social media bloggers, like myself, and the mistake becomes bigger and even more widespread.
I guess the real question is what can organizations do to protect themselves against a twitter uproar?
Their excuse, “a cataloguing error”, is lame. This is surely not a good example of crisis management. At the same time, should Amazon really admit that the reason for the omission is simply discrimination?
To further excuse the problem, Amazon stated that the reason the books were accidentally removed from the list were due to the adult nature of the content. The spokesperson said that other books containing adult content were also removed from the list.
Personally, I think transparency is key. If Amazon didn’t have this so-called glitch in their system, there would not be such a social media backlash making the company look bad.
Pornographic books are one thing, but the biography of Ellen DeGeneres is hardly objectionable.
Ethics is central to the PR problem, and it appears that Amazon is in quite a pickle.
But, has anyone ever thought of the downside to twitter?
I read this article, and it is becoming quite apparent that spreading the word through twitter can have a negative impact on an organization.
Poor Amazon. What a PR nightmare! I mean, not that they don’t deserve it, but without the widespread messaging that is innate to twitter, would people have noticed that gay and lesbian themed books have somehow disappeared off the best-seller ranking list?
Sure, people may have noticed, but once something gets posted on twitter, things can surely spiral out of control, which is exactly what happened when an avid tweeter discovered the book giant’s ‘error’.
Throw is some eager social media bloggers, like myself, and the mistake becomes bigger and even more widespread.
I guess the real question is what can organizations do to protect themselves against a twitter uproar?
Their excuse, “a cataloguing error”, is lame. This is surely not a good example of crisis management. At the same time, should Amazon really admit that the reason for the omission is simply discrimination?
To further excuse the problem, Amazon stated that the reason the books were accidentally removed from the list were due to the adult nature of the content. The spokesperson said that other books containing adult content were also removed from the list.
Personally, I think transparency is key. If Amazon didn’t have this so-called glitch in their system, there would not be such a social media backlash making the company look bad.
Pornographic books are one thing, but the biography of Ellen DeGeneres is hardly objectionable.
Ethics is central to the PR problem, and it appears that Amazon is in quite a pickle.
