- Share This Post
- Pin It
- 1
- 2
-
Sparkle (2)
Have you ever seen a social media firestorm in action?
Just like any other storm system, it’s both an awesome and terrifying sight to behold.
Recently, Amazon.com found itself in the middle of a big firestorm over a book for pedophiles which it had for sale on its site.
While I’m sure there will be many posts written in the coming weeks analyzing where Amazon went wrong during their firestorm (which is pretty much everywhere), I’m more interested in the other half of the equation.
As a student of communications and ethnography, during social media conversation firestorms, I like to watch the storm, not the ground upon which it ravages.
Social media conversation storms are swift, powerful and quickly growing, and studying them is a new science (which I, in no way, claim to have mastered). But I think it’s important to pay attention to them because they hold lessons on how we should respond to our own firestorms when they eventually arise.
While our firestorms may not pack the punch of Amazon’s, sooner or later all of us will feel a backlash for a mistake we’ve made (and we all make them, because we’re human). When that happens, how will we respond?
In watching Amazon’s community engage, some conversation patterns emerged that I have seen repeated before in social media firestorms -- from small flame wars to all out reputation apocalypses.
Below, I’ve described seven conversationalist profiles that seem most common in these situations.
Each of these types of people play a very different role in a firestorm and thus, may require different layers of attention and responsiveness from a company. By learning who these people are and what motivates their participation in the conversation, maybe we can better formulate our company's responses in return.
1. The catalysts
Catalysts are the people closest to the inciting incident (or the cause, recipient or beneficiary of whatever went wrong). These are the news breakers who bring an incident to life and give it shape and legs.
I’ve observed that catalysts are often bloggers, as that form lends itself well to storytelling. In a blog, a person has a platform to fully describe what happened, why it upset them, and what they intend to do about it. Often, (but not always) this is also the place where they include a call to action for their readers.
The catalysts are the many “faces” of a social firestorm. Some may not be directly related to the incident, but they've felt or formed a connected with the person who was. They originate the story within their networks and generally follow it through until some sort of conclusion is reached.
Posting a blanket apology on the company website is not an appropriate or effective way tocommunicate with a catalyst. Catalysts require (and deserve) personal contact from a company (on the phone, via email, etc.) where both the company representative and the catalyst can discuss the problem and next steps.
Conversations move extremely fast in social circles. Contacting catalysts as soon as possible is the most important thing you can do to manage your company’s online reputation in a firestorm.
Like a spark smoldering in the corner of an unoccupied building, ignoring your catalysts is just inviting a blaze to erupt.
2. The shepherds
Shepherds are the people who hear or
