Tell Everyone: Why We Share and Why It Matters by Alfred Hermida

Author:Alfred Hermida [Hermida, Alfred]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-385-67957-2
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Published: 2014-10-13T16:00:00+00:00

IT HAS BECOME SOMETHING EVERY COMPANY DREADS: CUSTOMERS or employees going on social media and trash-talking the brand. The world of business is littered with examples. There was the Starbucks barista in California singing on YouTube about annoying patrons. In Australia, a Vodafone employee ranted on Facebook and Twitter about idiot customers. In the U.K., an HMV employee used the chain’s corporate account to fire back at the company for firing staff. And these are examples of businesses coming under fire from their staff, let alone when they are on the receiving end of a twitstorm of fuming customers.

Social media is an arena that offers unrivalled opportunities to reach consumers and get them excited about a brand, with potentially tremendous rewards. McKinsey consultants estimate there is an untapped pot of gold in social media of between $900 billion and $1.3 trillion (both figures U.S.) in value for businesses. But while the rewards are lucrative, the risks are high if business executives don’t have a deep understanding of how social media works.

Applebee’s is one business that learned the hard way. The trouble started when Pastor Alois Bell went to the restaurant for dinner with members of the congregation of her St. Louis church in February 2013. Since it was a party of more than six people, Applebee’s added an automatic 18 per cent tip. Pastor Bell crossed out the tip and wrote zero instead. “I give God 10% why do you get 18,” she added above her signature. The waitress showed the receipt to a co-worker, Chelsea Welch, who then did what many do when they see something surprising, amusing or annoying. She took a photo and shared it on the online forum Reddit.

The receipt became an Internet phenomenon. It sparked a social media backlash against the pastor and resulted in Applebee’s sacking Welch for what she had thought was just “a lighthearted joke.” That should have been the end of the affair. Instead, it was the point when things started to spiral out of control. Welch’s firing prompted thousands of messages of support for her on the restaurant’s Facebook page. Applebee’s justified the firing on grounds of the privacy of its customers, prompting a further deluge of angry retorts. The to-and-fro between Applebee’s and commenters continued into the early hours of the morning. The restaurant was accused of deleting negative messages while it stuck to the corporate line.

The mainstream media picked up on the bun fight with headlines of Applebee’s “social media suicide” or “social media meltdown.” Somehow, an incident at one of its two thousand franchises turned into an online sensation, an international news story and a public relations fiasco that serves as an example of how not to handle a social media crisis. Applebee’s failed to recognize it no longer controls the message about its brand when employees and customers have to tools to hold companies accountable in a very public way.

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