#Manship4002 Understanding Online Firestorms - Lecture 16

1. Understanding
Online Firestorms
#Manship4002

2. The good with the bad
 Social media = highly beneficial environment for
word-of-mouth (WOM) propagation of new ideas
and products
 BUT negative WOM and complaints travel faster
and spread wider than ever before
 “In reaction to any questionable statement or
activity, social media users can create huge waves
of outrage within just a few hours. These so-called
online firestorms pose new challenges for
marketing communications.” (Pfeffer, Zorbach,
Carley, 2014)

3. Online Firestorms
 “In social media, negative
opinions about products or
companies are formed by and
propagated via thousands or
millions of people within hours.”
 Weinergate
 Ashton Kutcher

4. Online Firestorms
 online firestorm = “sudden discharge of large
quantities of messages containing negative WOM and
complaint behavior against a person, company, or
group in social media networks” (Pfeffer, Zorbach,
Carley, 2014)
 Similar to the way rumors are circulated
 Online firestorms can be based on rumors (unconfirmed)
or actually events (confirmed)
 Online firestorms often have a high affective
(emotional) nature

5. Social media and firestorms
 A survey conducted by the Fuqua School of
Business, Duke University, published in February
2012, shows that 7.4% of marketing budgets in the
USA are is currently being spent on social media.
 Companies are using social media for brand
building.
 But sometimes negative events or rumors on social
media can have unforeseen and uncontrollable
consequences for companies or a brand‟s image

6. Examples
 #McDStories – this hashtag promotion by
McDonalds on Twitter quickly became a means for
people to discuss funny and negative stories about
the company. McDonald‟s decided 2 h later to
switch the hashtag to #meetthefarmers, but the
damage had already been done: more than 1000
detractors had posted their negative experiences.
 The firestorm received instant coverage by
traditional media
 Why do you think this happened? Would could
McDonalds have done to prevent this?

7. Be careful with your
hashtags!
“There are hash tags for just
about everything, and it can
be pretty confusing to try to
figure out which one belongs
to what. Celeb Boutique, an
online clothing shop, tried to
send out a promotional text
earlier this year about
#Aurora. Regrettably, that
wasn‟t the right one, and
their clothing advertisement
was posted to the account
created for the tragic
shooting in Colorado.”
http://blog.kissmetrics.com/social-media-can-destroy/

8. What can you do?
 Slow down and think. Check your hashtags.
Be prepared with social media guidelines and
online crisis management plans.

9. Opinions spreading social media
 Twitter is one of the “fastest” social media platforms
 The half-life of Twitter memes and hashtags are on the
order of minutes (around 20-60 minutes). This means:
you have very little time to correct or respond to a
negative tweet before the damage is already done.
 Twitter consists of large social network clusters that
often work as “echo chambers” for word-of-mouth,
both positive AND negative.
 Negative events on Twitter are often picked up by
traditional media: “Twitter, for example, is frequently
used as a kind of „radar‟ by classic media, such as news
publishers or television stations to pick up stories (often
from eyewitnesses) at a very early stage.”
 For this reason, Twitter may be the wrong place to
try out new messages, campaigns or hashtags that we
haven’t tested, etc.

10. “The emergence of online firestorms seems to bear a
striking similarity to the online dynamics connected with
uprisings (e.g., the „Arab Spring‟) or social movements (e.g.,
„Occupy Wall Street‟) as in all cases, mass concern, the cult
of the negative (anti-incumbents), and information
propagation can create massive echo chambers.”
(Pfeffer, Zorbach, Carley, 2014)

11. What can you do when faced
with an online firestorm?
 Keep calm and maintain your composure.
 DO respond quickly, in a calm, transparent manner.
 Things not to do: „state no comment‟ and „ignore the
rumor
 Don‟t try to overbear or “hush” complaints. Let people
talk, listen to them, but also be heard in a positive way.
 DO respond. Be empathetic and show people you care.
 Have social media guidelines!
 Interventions are often required in online networks that
lack diversity (people with similar opinions may all echo
the same negative sentiment).

12. What can you do when faced
with an online firestorm?
 Do respond on the platform where the firestorm or
crisis first broke. If the firestorm is happening on
Twitter, don‟t post a YouTube video apology, for
example. Respond on Twitter!
 “You never know where a crisis will break, however,
so you must have presences in every social outpost,
even if you‟re not routinely participating there. For
example, are you ready for a Pinterest crisis? It could
happen.”
http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-crisis-2/dont-be-
scared-be-prepared-how-to-manage-a-social-media-crisis/

13. Responding to an online
firestorm
 If you can find key influencers in an online firestorm
(those posting negative comments with many followers,
for example), respond positively to these key influencers.
 Reply once, and then try to take the conversation to a
private place (direct message on Twitter, e-mail, online
chat, phone call, etc.) to listen to the complaint and try
to resolve the problem.
 Ex. Filmmaker Kevin Smith sent a series of exasperated
Tweets after he'd been “kicked off” a Southwest Airlines
flight for being "too fat". Southwest responded on Twitter,
asked for a DM [direct message] conversation with Smith,
and notified Twitter that they would be calling Smith at
home later that night.

14. http://stuartjdavidson.com/social-media-crisis-management-infographic/

15. What can you do to PREVENT
online firestorms?
 Maintain proactive and positive communication with
journalists from traditional media (who are also on
social media networks like Twitter)
 Maintain diverse social media networks (?)
 Maintain positive relationships with Twitter
followers and “fans” for a long time before the first
“dark clouds” roll in. (In other words, cull positive
relationships online ALL THE TIME.)
 “a company needs to be proactive and create fan
networks, identify trusted information brokers to
spread news about their company, and develop
contingency plans for organizing a collective social
information response before they are needed (in a
firestorm).”

16. What can you do to PREVENT
online firestorms?
 “A company that is well connected in the social
media sphere and that has established a diverse
array of fan groups and channels for direct dialog
with its customers is far more crisis-proof.”
 “In the case of an attack on its reputation, the
company can remain calm and can instantly reach
and activate its loyal customers and fans to
defend its image before further damage is done.”

17. Assume the worst?
 Companies must assume that upset
customers and even employees will take to
social networks to voice their complaints.
 Try to deal with upset customers, if
possible, BEFORE they complain on social
media. If that‟s not possible, respond as
quickly as possible before their online
complaints become even MORE negative.
 How can we anticipate online firestorms?

18. Discussion Exercise
 Get into groups of three
 Discuss: How can we move beyond reactive
online firestorm responses? How can we be
proactive, preventing online firestorms
before they occur, or before they get
worse?
(Examples: Southwest Airline’s “Overweight
Policy” incident; McDonald’s hashtag incident.)
Come up with 3-4 specific recommendations
of your own. Present as a group.

19. Your Recommendations
#Manship4002
 Hire a Twitter social media team
 Monitor social media continuously for complaints
 Have social media networks at various branches of the
organization (targeted social media activity based on location)
 Training employees on social media management (teaching crisis
management to new employees, so they understand the impact
that dissatisfied customers can have online.)
 Don‟t respond to every single negative tweet (choose carefully).
 Respond positively (not defensive!)
 Highlight positive customer testimonials via social media
 Not robo tweets!
 Maintain good relationships with followers on an ongoing basis
 Know your followers
 Conduct small focus groups to test your hashtags