Last week a reporter asked my opinion on the state of brands on Twitter after the Exxon Twitter-jacking debacle.
“As more companies move on to Twitter, how are we to know who is real and who is a fake?” she asked. “How can a reporter or a consumer know that this person can be a trusted source?”
With Exxon, someone named Janet had claimed to be the Exxon Mobil community manager. Forrester Research’s Jeremiah Owyang got excited that Exxon was getting involved with Twitter–3 days later, it turned out Janet was a fake. She hadn’t said anything negative about Exxon, and actually did a great job of addressing people’s questions…but she’d hijacked the brand. Other big companies might not be so lucky.
Back in the old 1.0 days of the Internet, you could be pretty much anyone–a 40 year old man pretending to be a 13 year old girl–and no one would know otherwise. In the Web 2.0 world, however, our identities are built on and confirmed by our relationships.
Using Facebook as an example, my identity is more-or-less confirmed by my friends. Not that it can’t be forged, but by checking my profile, my friends, my work network, etc., you’d be able to make a fairly good guess as to whether I was real or not.
Nope, Twitter doesn’t confirm your identity–but you can still use the network to validate someone. Jeremiah could have easily searched on Twellow for other Exxon employees on Twitter. Had their been any Exxon employees (there aren’t), he would have been able to ask them about Janet. Did they know her? Exxon is a big company, so maybe not…but I bet they have a directory in Outlook.
Companies like Dell, IBM, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft all have tons o’ employees on Twitter, making it easy to find a spokesperson. (Click links for Twellow searches).
A couple of steps any company can take to ensure their brand is protected:
- Don’t just create a XYZCo generic Twitter account, get as many employees on Twitter as possible
- Add any official Twitter names to the company’s main contact page
- Encourage employees to mention company name in Twitter profile
- Create a directory of employees in the company on Twitter and distribute internally
- Encourage employees to add each other. Even if they may not work together, Twitter can help strengthen the camaraderie within a company
- Encourage employees to respond to any Tweets about the company they see — bonus if they search for the company’s name or industry keywords
There you go. Now whenever a reporter, blogger or consumer is looking for a company rep, they can find many to whom they can turn! Oh, and it might not hurt to claim your company’s name–if it isn’t already taken!
What systems does your company have in place to validate Twitter screen names? Do you have just a generic name? Do you let employees actively Tweet?
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[The above photo, “Kids at zebra crossing” by fiskfisk on Flickr, used under Creative Commons]
“Yahoo’s Jerry Yang Doesn’t Understand Blogging”
This weekend, all eyes turned to the blogosphere to watch as the Microhoo deal fell through. Jerry Yang, CEO of Yahoo, also turned to blogging to plead his case. Sadly, the blog became a PR mechanism and one-sided message delivery system. Take a look at a few quotes:
It’s a great letter to shareholders–or a press release–but it’s not a blog post. As we’ve mentioned before, a blog is a conversation. If Jerry wants to use it to put out company messages, that’s fine, but what’s the point. He’s losing a chance to re-energize the Yahoo user base.
Take a look at sampling of some of the comments:
A user named Jive sums it up best: “Above all, listen to us, your consumer, because we use your products and have specific wants, habits, usage etc.”
Wanna make it back on top, Jerry? Here are some suggestions:
Jerry, I love Yahoo. You guys have so many great properties, but they are all disconnected. If you read the comments on your post, you’ll see many users feel the same way. You’ll also see that most of them still love Yahoo. Give them something to get excited about. Your users make or break the company. If you listen to them–and interact with them–they will welcome you back with open arms. I guarantee it.
What do you think? Did Jerry’s post legitimately address user concerns? What do you think Yahoo should do to reengage its user base?
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Filed under Community Manager, It's A Conversation, Public Relations 2.0, Social Media
Tagged as Community Relations, corporate social media, Dell, energize community, how to comment on blog, IdeaStorm, Jerry Yang, microhoo, social media for marketing, social media for PR, Yahoo