Two ‘case studies’ in social media have been high on the agenda in the last few weeks. They are:
- Wayward Dominos’ employees in Conover, North Carolina
- The UK Labour Government’s political smear campaign
I have heard much discussion about the brand and political impact of these unfortunate exposes and lots of experts talking about the need for the victims (or culprits) to engage social media to clean up the mess caused by these indiscretions.
All of this is interesting to a point.
I have heard commentators sprouting the following nonsensical claims; that organisations will withdraw from social media programs as a result of the Dominos experience – in particular. And that Dominos in particular needs to get out there – i.e. into social media – to address the issue. Something that they eventually did.
Let us face the facts.
- Employees in fast food restaurants mess with food.
- Political smear campaigns are as old as politics.
The community is so obsessed with social media at the moment that we are failing to address or consider the underlying and age-old stories and issues here.
Social media has become the story – for everything. Its like a veneer that corporations and institutions can paint over their shoddy and unethical practices to make everything alright.
We’ll quickly move onto the next thing but I doubt that much will change at Dominos or within British politics.
Social media can be a means to an end (i.e. changing stuff) but its not an end in itself.
Related posts:
Yes, we are obsessed aren’t we? But for a reason – social media is a pretty big deal. I see it as a shift in power…
The employee, the consumer, the individual – has enormous power now. We have the power to independently reach large audiences, without any need for a ‘gatekeeper’, with rich content, easily, quickly, freely and even anonymously!
When have we ever had this liberty before?
Also, I don’t think corporates can paint over their ‘shoddy and unethical practices’ with social media. If anything social media to a corporate is like a mirror that reflects their behaviour to every corner of the world in a millisecond. In fact – because of social media, I reckon they’re more exposed / vulnerable than ever before.
My view is that it’s up to a company if it wants to actively use social media or not. I mean, some companies use advertising, some prefer just pr, some don’t believe in direct mail. But one thing that no corporate can ignore is that social media can have a significant impact on reputation. And that the only way to control (well, manage) this from a corporate perspective is to ensure the company behaves and interacts ethically and responsibly with employees, customers, society & the environment.