Deep Jive Interests

It seems like the blogosphere and internets in general, has suffered the effects of trolls, haters, and otherwise seemingly auto-congregating crowds who have an axe to grind, legitimate or no. This isn’t new, but what with Kathy Sierra debacle, the Washington Post needing to close down its comments due to Neo-Nazi trolls, or HomeDepot getting slammed by a columnist at MSN Money catalyzing an avalanche of angry comments (the most in MSN Money’s history) — well, its something that is certainly catching the eye of the mainstream press.

A recent article by BusinessWeek highlights the issue nicely, and raises a question — what should companies do in the face of a twitchy web public, who often seem like they need the slightest excuse to unleash a torrential flood of negative sentiment?

1. Recognize The Double Edged Sword: The first is to recognize that the “radical transparency” of social media is a double edged sword. It can be an incredible source of Buzz — but it can be both positive and negative. Of course there’s greater access to networks and the potential for interaction with potential and actual customers, but the same systems which are the source of benefit can be the same systems for potential harm. Whether its Digg, Twitter, or Facebook, memes of any kind travel faster, and are likely to propogate more fully, in this ‘web2.0′ age we live in. Those kind of tools greatly enable “meme movement” because users self-organize into networks of similar interests.

2. Acknowledge You’ve Got Haters: The second is to acknowledge that every company, blog, or personality worth its salt is going to have its detractors, haters, and axe-to-grinders no matter what you do. Furthermore, all they need is a reason to start up a negative conversation. And quite often they’re louder than your supporters, since negative news may travel faster than positive. Ignoring this fact isn’t going to make it go away. In fact, the absence of a reaction may be worse than any reaction at all, since inaction might be construed as apathy towards the perceived wrong.

3. Have Ethical Capital To Work With: Its not enough to just “engage” your customers and other folk with glad handing, emailing, and blogging. Even if you’ve done something wrong, its not enough to just apologize, although its a necessary first step. The best thing to counter act negative sentiment is to actually start from a base which is ethically sound. You can file this under “easy to say, hard to do”, but quite frankly, its not something that potential and customers, users, and readers are going to know or care about. Are a strategic level, are you able to do what you say you’re going to do — and then do it? On more specific levels, do you knowingly cut corners with any point in product development or service interactions? On a fundamental level, is there a disconnect between what you’re promising, and what you know your employees, your customers, and the public at large know? You’re always going to have folks which are going to see the negative in what you do, but if you know that you’re working from an ethical base — in some respects at least — its going to be easier to do the next thing.

4. Dedicate Systems To Reputation Management: If you acknowledge that there are populations of individuals who don’t like You, and you recognize the double edged nature of the ecosystem that company lives in, then it inevitably follows that you must dedicate resources to managing your reputation. Whether this falls under the umbrella of public relations or marketing doesn’t really matter. But what does is

• a constant vigilance for negative buzz
• recognizing a rise in negative sentiment when it occurs
• having a plan to analyze the situation, and being prepared to act quickly
• … and most of all, being prepared to honestly acknowledge errors

Sure there’s something to be said for cultivating your own “mob”of fans to counter act negative sentiment as well (let’s fight fire with fire!); but on the other hand, I think that we should look to this aspect of new media as a very sensitive method of checks and balances.

Are they at times overly sensitive? Of course.

But dismissing them, particularly when some of these memes are about to erupt into a firestorm of controversy that evelops the mainstream media, or, more importantly, there is real truth to their complaints, is foolhardy and arrogant.

Lastly, you can even make the argument that this kind of environment should be a driver towards more ethically and socially accountable practices in all its forms for companies, blogs, and entities. Is it a pie-in-the-sky wish?

Speaking as a consumer, I hope its not.