I've been reading a great industry book called "Groundswell". If you were born after 1985 you are one of many slowly catching onto social networking. This book explains how to embrace the groundswell rather than ignore it. Ignoring something won't make it go away - it will move forward without you, leaving a long trail of dust behind.
This book talks about Social Media and how it exploded into our daily lives, both personally and professionally, in 2006. It shares many examples of how powerful Social Media is by allowing people to band together even if they reside on opposite sides of the world. It reminds me of a comedian/audience viewer relationship...the experience is much more interesting if the viewer can relate to what the comedian is talking about.
Which brings me to a story I found on Yahoo! news yesterday about a peeved off customer of United Airlines. Not everyone can relate to a bad experience with United Airlines but that's neither here nor there. We've all had our share of shotty customer service and for this reason alone we want this guy's message to reach the far depths of the universe. That's right, even aliens should know what kind of service they would receive if their ship crashed and they needed to catch a flight with United Airlines.
Even if his course of action doesn't fix the problem, the revenge would feel oh so sweeeeeeeeet. This sounds like a PR nightmare for United but it didn't have to be that way. The company's slow reaction to the video (remember when I said ignoring something doesn't make it go away) pushes them even farther into the shit storm that is raining over them.
Watch on...
This isn't the first of its kind and won't be the last. When people have been wronged they naturally want to shout it to the world. 20 years ago, the furthest that would reach is your neighbour down the street but with today's technology you can probably reach a remote tribe in Africa.
Here are a few more examples of companies that have been hit hard by the Groundswell
On a totally unrelated subject, I finally found a dentist I like!
