1. The presentation discusses how companies can fight back against negative social media crises, or "shitstorms", by activating supportive "superfans". 2. A case study of Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal found that Volkswagen fans acted as a "brand protection force" on social media to counter the negative comments. 3. Another case study of an offensive tweet by KLM about Mexico found that while KLM activated some Dutch fans initially, Mexican fans and supporters of the Mexican soccer team drove the negative response against KLM online. The Dutch fans did not strongly defend the brand as the Volkswagen fans had.

1. Thomas Zorbach & Jürgen Pfeffer
Pizza Talk IV: Fighting Back Shitstorms With An Army of
Superfans
SUNBELT XXXVI, APRIL 6TH 2016, NEWPORT BEACH, CA
http://www.techinsider.io/star-wars-collectors-from-around-the-world-2015-12

2. About me
Company
vm-people, Berlin
University
Karlshochschule International University
Research focus
New Media Culture
Pizza Talks at Sunbelt:
e.g. Impact of Online-Influencers
THOMAS ZORACH – PRACTITIONER, LECTURER, RESEARCHER

3. We all have a fan-gene ...

4. http://www.people.com/article/world-cup-fans-photos-brazil http://www.techinsider.io/star-wars-collectors-from-around-the-world-2015-12
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/fillipino-lady-gaga-fans-fight-back-against-anti-l#.dojYb07We http://www.scoopnest.com/user/MoneyWeek/615581098974834688

5. Motivation
2014 WAS CITED „YEAR OF OUTRAGE“ BY SLATE MAGAZINE

6. Definition
“An Online-Firestorm is a phenomenon that
describes the sudden discharge of large
quantities of negative word of mouth and
complaint behavior against a person,
company, political institution or group in
social media networks, often paired with
intense indignation that has shifted its
focus from an actual point of criticism.
SOCIAL MEDIA CRISIS: ONLINE-FIRESTORMS AKA SHITSTORMS
Pfeffer, J. & Zorbach, T. & Carley, K.M. (2013).
Understanding online firestorms: Negative word of
mouth dynamics in social media networks. Journal of
Marketing Communications

7. Agenda
Research questions
1. What are superfans and how to identify them in social media?
2. Is it possible to measure their alleviating role in a social media crisis?
PIZZA TALK IV: FIGHTING BACK SHITSTORMS WITH AN ARMY OF SUPERFANS

8. Case study
VOLKSWAGEN EMISSION SCANDAL
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/09/29/cost-of-volkswagens-emissions-scandal-at-least-11-billion-analysts-say/

9. #dieselgate: The crisis
unfolds
• September 18th – 28th 2015
• More than 2 Million Tweets in
only 10 days*
• Peak on September 23rd marks
CEO Martin Winterkorn‘s
resignation
• Curve shows typical pattern
* http://www.visibrain.com/
http://www.visibrain.com/en/blog/volkswagen-dieselgate-crisis-twitter-analysis

10. #dieselgate: The Fan-
Force strikes back
• At the peak of the crisis
Volkswagen fans entered the
arena
• Main plattforms: Facebook and
Twitter
• Thousands of positive mentions,
comments and tweets
• Memes
https://www.facebook.com/Volkswagen

11. Observation
VOLKSWAGEN-FANS ACTED AS A BRAND PROTECTION FORCE
https://www.facebook.com/Volkswagen

12. Theory and Background
§ Highly emotional
§ Connected
§ Loyal
§ Communicative
§ Engaged
§ Missionary
§ Hypercritical
§ Possesive
SUPERFANS: AN ATTACK ON THE FAN-OBJECT IS AN ATTACK ON THE IDENTITY
Media studies: Fan-activism as sign of the
new participatory culture (Jenkins, 2006)

13. Theory and Background
RUMOURS: THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY AND TRUSTED SOURCES
Political science: Early and trusted sources have the
highest impact on attitude-forming processes
(Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975, 1980)

14. Case study
#MEXICOGATE – BATTLE OF FANDOMS

15. #mexicogate
• KLM publishes Tweet after
Dutch squad defeated Mexican
team in World Cup 2014
• Politically incorrect tweet leads
to worldwide criticicm and crisis

16. #mexicogate
• Mexican actor Gael Garcia
Bernal sends a harsh tweet in
response

17. #mexicogate
• Focus of analysis on June 29th
– 30th of @KLM-Tweets
• Graphs shows number of users
from decahose-data (10%
sample of all tweets)
• Peaks show response on KLM-
and Garcia-Tweets
• Figure shows general
characteristic of firestorms:
short lifetime
Number of Users per Day

18. #mexicogate
• Language from user-profile
• User-Hashtag-network for dutch
speakers
• #nedmex removed
• Small number of dutch speakers
were activated by KLM
• Few discussion, many retweets
NE Language Users – Reaction of dutch fans

19. #mexicogate
• Large number of spanish
speaking users activated by
KLM
• Typical firestorm characteristics:
large quantities of negative
word of mouth aimed at KLM,
paired with intense indignation
ES Language Users – reaction of Mexican Fans

20. Findings
• KLM managed to activate dutch
football fans with initial tweet
• Mexican actor activated his fans
and fans of the mexican soccer
team against KLM
• Mexican fans executed the
firestorm against KLM
• Dutch fans didn‘t take up the
fight to defend the brand, fans
did not act as protection force
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/mexico-and-dutch-fans-soak-up-the-atmosphere-prior-to-the-news-photo/451438732

21. Epilogue
• Mexian flight carrier spinned the
KLM-shitstorm into a positive
message for his own brand

22. Next steps
§ Quantification of superfan-criteria
§ More detailed overtime-analysis of
cause and effect
§ Comparing multiple firestorms with
respect to fan involvement
PIZZA TALK IV: FIGHTING BACK SHITSTORMS WITH AN ARMY OF SUPERFANS

23. Our mission ...