SOCIAL IMPRESSIONS

While checking my twitter feed, I noticed an update by a friend* that really concerned me. She had received an angry call from Derek Onstott, Beso Mexican Grill & Cantina’s owner, about an unfavorable Yelp review she authored. According to this Yelp user, her review discussed everything she witnessed and heard in the restaurant. During her visit, Onstott disclosed to her that he funded his establishment using money obtained from illegal activities. An even worse observance was when a police officer came to the restaurant to serve Onslott with a warrant. The Yelp User also mentioned the sub par service and food in her review. After a quick search, it was evident that this isn’t the first time Onslott and Beso have received negative reviews.

Once Onstott discovered the review, he contacted the Yelper. He threatened to harm her and file a lawsuit if she did not immediately remove her review. She removed her initial review and replaced it with the following:

1 star rating

I am re-writing this b/c i had a post about this place, then the owner called going off on me b/c he was pissed at the review I gave him. Someone obviously saw this and told the owner. But remember this is a social site/forum.

I am giving you opinions on what I experienced. Food - so so, same with drinks. Owner should trust his staff to help out and not do all the work. I would suggest a little bit more positive feedback towards the staff, and they would want to do a better job instead of walking on pins and needles all day. In short badly run place…. There are a lot of details I will leave out.

She had to remove this review as well due to an angry voice mail (transcribed below) Onstott left her. She has notified Yelp of the threats.

Onstott does not appear to be familiar with the concept of user-generated content. Social media encourages users to share their experiences online. Based on his verbal threats, Onstott doesn’t realize that his attempt to censor this Yelp user has prompted a conversation online that will only prove to be detrimental to his business. Reputation management isn’t coercing patrons to change their opinion; it is implementing the recommendations that they offered. It is thanking the users for sharing their opinion and letting them know they will at least be taken into consideration. Above all, this owner needs a lesson in the basics of customer service.

My initial reaction was to tweet this occurrence with fellow users. Needless to say, they were outraged by Onstott’s behavior. Idofluk created a poll based on this situation and asked the Twitter community what this Yelper should do. The options were: Ignore the owner, contact yelp to complain, write a worse review, erase her initial review, and other. Within a few hours of the poll being posted on pollsb.com, there were 219 views and 53 votes.

The Twitter community also provided me with their own questions for my friend. Below are those questions and her answers.

How did the owner find your phone number, etc? Did you record any calls or will you record any future calls to/from this owner? Asked by: MixMastaKooz

Derek and I share mutual friends, so he was able to obtain my phone number through one of them. I did not record any of the calls, but I saved on of the voice mails he left me. Apparently, he didn’t discover the Yelp review himself. A friend mentioned it to him and linked him to my review. Here is the transcribed version of the voice mail he left me:

“Hi Rebecca this is Derek. I am calling in one last attempt to have you remove your review, and I spoke to my attorney about the first review you posted. I printed it out. That is defamation of character my attorney and will slap a lawsuit on you if the review is not gone in 24hrs. You never dined here. You don’t have receipt from here. You drank here, no service, no food… I will sue you. Your review has nothing to do with my restaurant… Trust me I will spend $10k in lawyers to win a $100k from you. I will drag your name through the mud, I fucking mean it. I will drag your fucking name through the mud. This is my livelihood. You drag my name through the mud I will drag yours. And mess up your life and job. ”

I did dine at his restaurant. He invited me to his restaurant as a guest. He gave me food and drinks. So he is correct - I don’t have a receipt.

Given this situation, do you feel you will become reluctant when leaving any future online reviews? Asked by Sonnygill

No, I believe it is important to share my opinion and experiences. People use review sites to determine which businesses to patronize. Reviews help people make final decisions on where to go and what to buy. These sites empower people and enable them to make well-thought out decisions.

Will this experience keep you from writing any more honest reviews online or will you continue to voice your opinion? Asked by shaxxon

All my reviews have been completely honest, may they be positive or negative. Although this is the first time I have had experienced such a horrible experience, it will not hinder me from being honest.

Do you think this is related to the medium (UGC) or would this guy have reacted similarly if the review wasn’t online? Asked by melaniephung

A jerk is a jerk is a jerk. This man would have behaved the same way regardless of the medium. He has been involved in many legal problems in the past. His reputation is already very poor in the St. Louis area. If he had contacted me as a concerned business owner, I would have reacted differently.

Given the transparency of social networks, do you wish you had been more anonymous in your profile on elp? Sonnygill and BarbaraKB

My profile didn’t contain any personal information, besides my first name and city. In fact, my avatar is my cat. It isn’t even a personal picture.

Does this discourage you from continuing participation in social media? Asked by martinbowling

No. In fact, I tweeted my frustration right afterwards and agreed to let Reem blog about this.

I’m interested in knowing what the police can do (if anything) in this country (being from AU). What did they recommend to her? Asked by MadLid

I contacted an officer right after the first phone call. I explained what Yelp was, what happened and who threatened me. The officer was surprised and documented all the information I shared with her. Within two days, I received a call from a local detective. He told me I had two options - report it or leave it alone. He mentioned that if I reported it, I would have to deal with the legal system and go to court. Since I wasn’t interested in going that route, I decided to just step back and leave everything alone. Then, Derek called me a few days after I posted my revised review and left me a horrible voice mail. I contacted the detective again who suggested I remove the review and stop all interaction with him.

This restaurateur was attempting to control his image, and apparently thought threatening a reviewer was the best way to do so. He must not have expected her to share her story on Twitter and receive the support of the online community. The number of people who are now aware of Onstott’s indiscretions has increased significantly. I wonder if he’ll try to call each one of us and dole out individual threats. Many people who aren’t familiar with the social media space don’t realize the power that users have to spread a message to countless others. He didn’t censor her, he empowered her with knowledge. Not only are journalists covering his apparently crazy behavior in local newspapers, now bloggers and twitterers are discussing it online as well. Derek Onstott — Epic Fail!

* My friend wants to remain anonymous at this time.

** Thanks to the Twitter community for their concern and providing me with great questions to ask the Yelp user.

As social media users, we are constantly exposed to a variety of opinions that don’t necessarily align with our own. With so many people from various cultures, backgrounds, beliefs, religions, and political affiliations are interacting with each other, it is inevitable that they will clash at some point. I have witnessed a variety of reactions to offensive stories on social media sites. There are users who will turn a blind eye, users who upmod or bury stories, some who offer comments and those who file reports with host sites. Based on that, I decided to evaluate the importance of sharing independent viewpoints and the ethics of managing a social media site.

Before the growth of social media, people got their global news by traditional mediums like the newspaper, television and the radio. However, there is a major shift happening where an increasing number of people are pulling information from the internet exclusively. Social media has effectively democratized information. It allows users to share news and provide input. It is now rare to only receive a one-sided story. And because of this medium, users are more apt to share their perspectives. As in real life, this causes conflict between users with opposing beliefs.

The moment an opinion is shared online, the subject is opened up for the world to respond. Users will receive instantaneous feedback, whether it is for or against their position. They should also be prepared for exposure to stories and comments that are against their beliefs. There is minimal censorship occurring in social media, so tolerance is imperative. If you want to come and play online, be ready for a variety of viewpoints. It is exciting, interesting and above all, educational.

An important question to ask is whether or not the social media site should get involved in a conflict occurring between users. Often, site managers are asked to intervene in a complicated situation where people are arguing about very sensitive subjects like religion and politics. In order to avoid a catastrophic public reaction, it is wise for the site to stay clear of arguments amongst their users. It should show that it respects the viewpoints of both parties. If the managers sway in one direction and show preference to a single user, it will only incite a larger problem. As long as the story does not incite hate or harm, the site should remain neutral. The only role that a social media site should have is banning those who violate their Terms of Service. Obviously, they also have every right to reprimand those who harass and threaten others.

Users need to learn to be socially responsible and open their minds to different points of view. By joining a social news site, you are accepting the fact that you are going to see all kinds of stories. If you don’t agree with them, you have the right to downmod the story and write a comment stating your own viewpoints. The point, after all, is to be heard in a public forum, no matter where you stand.

Thanks to XKCD for the image.

While reading my Twitter feed, I noticed repeated mentions of Keith Olbermann’s commentary about President Bush. As any Twitterer worth her salt would do, I rushed to see what the fuss was all about. To my delight, I watched the best verbal thrashing to date. Countdown’s host, Olbermann, passionately pointed out all of Bush’s flaws as a leader. In a recent Politico interview, Bush noted that electing a Democrat for president was a horrendous idea and would be equivalent to “another attack on the United States.” I believe that the most memorable part of the commentary was Bush’s admittance of giving up golf to revere and empathize with the families of the fallen soldiers.

As you become increasingly active in social media, you will find a wide variety of competitiveness across the board. Some want to be regarded as A-list bloggers, to reach a top status on social bookmarking sites, and to have the most number of friends on Facebook. While some can maintain genuine relationships with people, others see them as part of their massive network. Competition is usually healthy, depending on the amount of competitiveness involved.

Although there are many gray areas between each level, I have observed roughly five main levels of social media competitiveness and involvement.

Lurker

Lurkers exist online; they just aren’t visible. These people don’t actually participate. They quietly watch the activity on their favorite sites. They may identify core sites and users that they admire or enjoy and follow them religiously. Even the most offensive of posts won’t incite a comment from them. Although these lurkers might sign up for an account on a social site, they are usually the users without an avatar. Their activity on these sites is minimal, and their contribution is non-existent.

Dabbler

Dabblers are active in social media just for the fun of it. They don’t care if anyone knows them and only interact with a minimal number of users. They go to Facebook to connect with real life friends and go to social news sites to vote on stories that intrigue them. They will only tag stories for personal use. These users are usually those who use social media sites, but don’t realize how much they can grow within them. Dabblers make up the bulk of social media users. They are absolutely oblivious to the various tools, applications, and help forums that are available for the sites they are active on.

Part-timer

Part-timers have a few accounts that they are active on. They subscribe to their favorite blogs and make sure to check them out when a new post has been published. They participate when they have the time to, but real life intrigues them much more. A part-timer will assist others when needed but isn’t always accessible online. Part-timers are the users who will submit their blog to Digg and wonder why they only got two votes; these users still have a limited understanding of how to best use these sites.

Hard-core user

This person is invested in social media and usually spends a few hours a day participating in the space. They are involved on many channels and are major contributors to the community. They want to share knowledge and add value. These people typically interact with anyone in the space, regardless of their level. They believe that the exchange that they have with various users is fulfilling. Although these hard-core users are extremely driven and would like to have top user status, they will avoid taking advantage of other users to get there. Due to their high involvement, these users will install and rely on user-scripts and alerters to simplify their online experience.

Pro

While not all Pros are uber competitive, most uber competitive users make it to the Pro level. They will duplicate a submission if it means it will increase their popularity rankings. They enjoy the attention they get from being on the top of the totem pole and will continue to invest time, effort and money into building it. They constantly check their statistics to ensure that they are still ranking very high. Immersed in the social media world, the pros are usually the first to know about breaking news stories and technology innovations. They are privy to technology short cuts and will utilize them to assist in maintaining their status. They have a wealth of knowledge about the various spaces and will only share it with those who have proven their worth. However, trade secrets are only shared with their tight circle of top users.

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Update: The “Pro” section has been updated to clarify my intention.

Thanks to Tanner Hobin for creating the image.