Enjoy Your Social Media Power, Don’t Abuse It
October 8, 2008 10:13 am Social Media
Social media provides us with the ability to share our thoughts, opinions and ideas on our favorite sites. For instance, I can discuss that I support Olbermann’s bashing of Bush and that I despise Beso Restaurant because they bullied a friend on my blog. As with all the other users, these actions empower me to have a voice that influences the decisions of others and make any changes I deem necessary. There are some, however, who forget that their voices can damage personal brands and compromise the reputation and integrity of a company.
Social media users believe that one of their roles is to serve as jury members of the online world. They usually get their call when they see that someone has been victimized on their turf, like the MySpace case with Lori Drew. They will do their due diligence by conducting research. If they deem the person guilty based on the evidence they unearthed in the interwebs, they may launch an attack. This attack comes in variety of forms like blogging about the topic, writing negative reviews, bashing the perpetrator on forums, sharing that person’s private information (phone number or home address) and even paying them a personal visit.
I personally experienced this when I wrote about a restaurant owner who threatened my friend for writing a negative review on Yelp. The story went popular on Digg, was written about in newspapers and blogs, and St. Louis-based users were discussing it on local forums. Many enraged users even went to Yelp to author negative reviews about Beso. It was no longer about the quality of the food but more so about the victimization of a fellow social media user. I often wonder if the online rage transcended into real life causing people to boycott this restaurant because of how my friend was treated by the owner.
Although social media users have the power to share, they should be careful what they say and do online. There are many examples of how social media users abused the power they had online and have gotten called out by the rest of the community. Some members of the online world will police their space to ensure that it remains a peaceful place for the rest of the users. Although there aren’t many rules imposed online, it is always important to remember the Golden Rule you learned as kid – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Thanks to MovieTonic for the image.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:14 am
I totally agree, as long as you do what you would to others (or participate back when they do it) go for it.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Well said!
I think there is a tendency for people to hide behind their words in this space, particularly if they are using an alias, not their real name or not posting a photo. It all comes down to transparency. I’m not going to put much credit in the rantings of an “invisible” member of the community. In my experience, I have found that those people who maintain a level of transparency are not generally the ones spreading negative messages.
For me personally, I have one simple rule: I never say anything online that I would not say to someone’s face.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:27 am
I very much enjoyed your views on the social network and abusing powers. I think your friend had every right to post about the treatment of this restaurant owner. As a business owner, an avid consumer and past hospitiality employee I have always looked upon business blogging first to become more responsible in their business and treatment because consumers have the ability to tell many instantly of postive/negative feedback from a product or service. I believe this is the way to keep competition in the business place, fair consumer pricing and fair consumer treatment. To many business owners get away with inflated prices and treatment towards consumers because word of mouth was slow but now word of blogging is on the rise and business owners are getting angry at reviews instead of finding ways to improve their product/service and their P.R. procedures. I don’t agree with bashing any company or anyone and only truth not inflated truth for revenge. Slander is slander so bloggers must watch what they write but for those writing truthful reviews should not be harassed but instead a business owner should take that cue to apoligize and to find ways for improvement.
Cheers to You
October 8th, 2008 at 11:34 am
I agree with Susan Murphy.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Interesting story. You make some very good points. People who actively participate on various social media sites and have built-up a rather large following, do have a little bit of ‘power’ in what people view. It never ceases to amaze me how many views a YouTube video or Flickr Image receives after it goes popular somewhere.
This can definitely become a problem if you’re not careful about what you say. I wouldn’t be too worried about the Beso Restaurant post of yours.
Obviously you weren’t out to slander this restaurant, just reporting an incident that you know about and appalled you. Without a doubt, you planted a seed in some people’s heads that live in that area and know of that restaurant… but that’s not something I would say is your fault.
You didn’t cause the incident at Beso. You merely reported an incident. Anybody that reads your post, has to form an educated opinion.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:40 am
The example of the restaurant owner is a strong one. I remember when that went down. It was like they were pouring gas on the fire the way they were handling the situation.
I’m a glass is half full kind of person so it’s rare I’ll go negative on a company or their service. It may seem one sided but I have more fun writing good things about the companies I love, fortunately there are lots of them.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:43 am
What’s that quote from Spiderman … “with great power, comes great responsibility”? It’s true. I think social media users have a very sharp sword simply because they have skills the rest of the world still doesn’t realize are important.
From my SEO perspective, I think it’s also important to consider the long-term effects of your efforts. If you swing the social media axe in anger, you can’t take it back. Google will have already indexed your juicy comments and that content will live for a very long time.
I still feel a twinge of guilt for my online rant about an auto manufacturer. Given a few days, the auto manufacturer did right by me. But my comments remain online and the replies indicate that my remarks talked more than a few people out of buying that vehicle.
Then there are the aftershocks. The link you dropped in this post to your post about Beso will now give that restaurant a second wave of attention. Lucky him
October 8th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
From the blog: “Social media users believe that one of their roles is to serve as jury members of the online world.” Yes, that’s true. It’s also true that many social media users are so blinded by their own prejudices that they feel free to offer their views on topics they know nothing about. For example, yesterday I posted a vehement response on a blog written by a woman who trains dogs. This particular blog related to her categoric denial of the right of mentally ill people to have assistance animals. In fact, she stated that “anyone” who needed to have an animal with them for emotional support should be institutionalized, because they “obviously” weren’t capable of coping with everyday life. This idiotic bimbo actually had the temerity to offer an across-the-board condemnation of individuals she clearly neither knows nor understands. (She had no psychiatric background whatsoever.) In such cases, I think it the duty of everyone who uses social media to expose and protest such profound and unfeeling ignorance.
October 8th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Ethics in social media is important! Cross a certain line and you hurt yourself, your brand image and others.
October 8th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Enjoy Your Social Media Power, Don’t Abuse It…
Although social media users have the power to share, they should be careful what they say and do online….
October 8th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Great post! People will post whatever they feel this is the reality of web 2.0! It’s like the world just realized the planet is round! When web 2.0 was introduced we had to expect the abuse of social media! If you give the reader a pencil they will write!
I think if the story is true then it should be told!
October 8th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
I enjoyed this post Reem. In today’s digital age anyone can be a creator of content & distribute it at lightening speed. With the amount of content floating around it can be very difficult to tell what is actually credible and trustworthy. That’s why I agree with you that the members of a community should police it themselves and individuals should really think before publishing online. One may be trying to hurt the reputation of another person or business and ultimately it may end up their reputation that is tarnished. Though bloggers are very opinionated people somethings are better left unsaid.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:51 am
As always, in life, love and career, we may make choices that are less than upstanding or favorable sometimes.
If these choices affect people, places, things, or situations negatively, it is of no fault of the one who blogs the occurrence, but of the source of the occurrence. It’s called repercussions of our actions.
October 11th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Does thou quote Jesus?
October 12th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Speaking of Jesus, he was beaten and otherwise abused for exposing goods on people and speaking his mind.
In fact, according to scripture, Christ turned over tables to express his disgust with the greed in the temple. Matthew 21:12-14
October 16th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Very good post. It reminds me of the “soldier throwing puppy off cliff” thing; what he did was horrible, but the way that people terrorized his family afterward was also horrible. I mean, what does sending death threats really accomplish anyway?
October 16th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
calinazaret, this is the truth about that actually.. “Warning: The Content in this Article May be Inaccurate
Readers have reported that this story contains information that may not be accurate”
http://digg.com/people/US_Soldier_throws_puppy_off_cliff_(video)