TO STUDY THE BEHAVIOUR OF LARGE COMPANIES ON NEGATIVE FACEBOOK COMMENTS

Abstract

Of ET 500 companies 2012, almost 80 percent use some form of social media to communicate with customers and other stakeholders. However, these media pose the risk of providing a forum for comments critical of corporate leadership, services or products. Most marketing specialists recommend that negative comments should be treated as opportunities to resolve potential business problems. This paper seeks to assess whether large companies adopt the recommended approach when reacting to negative comments. When facebook was launched in February 2004, the website was intended as a communications forum for students enrolled at Harvard; the site was later expanded to include other universities. In fact, the term facebook is derived from publications, issued at many American colleges that display the names photographs of students attending an institution for the purpose of promoting social interaction. Following the site launch, the owner of the facebook commenced to implement a series of enhancements that altered the site’s original scope. High school students were invited to join and the posting of photographs and videos were promoted. A live chat capability was added to the site. Eventually, corporations and other businesses were also recommended within the facebook community. A recent survey indicates that as of January 2011, 84 percent of the 200 fastest growing private companies around the world maintain a facebook presence. Business participation with facebook and other social media sites is motivated primarily by the desire to utilize a global and popular marketing and recruitment channel that permits direct interaction with the clients and potential customers or employees. In addition, the marketing potential of facebook is enhanced by useful demographic data provided to corporate sponsors of facebook sites visitors, based on the visitor’s age, gender, geographic location, interests, and other factors. Finally, facebook is an especially attractive medium for corporate marketing because businesses are permitted to develop application that links their facebook site to the 6 company’s official web page. This facilitates the placement of orders and other transactions. For example, the official facebook site of amazon.com includes an app that allows visitos to write book reviews and submit them directly to the company’s web page. Interaction is made possible by the “wall”, a component of the facebook page available for every registered individual and organisation. Corporations generally post five types of entries, or discussions threads, to their wall: 1. Direct marketing of products or services 2. Promotion of sponsored events 3. Surveys 4. Informational announcements 5. “Fun” postings, usually in the form of questions related to recent or upcoming events In order to comment on these entries, individual must become a “fan” of the company’s page; being a “fan” indicates that the commenter has clicked a button indicating that he or she likes the organisation’s products or services, or has a favourable opinion of the sponsoring business. Many employees of the organisation chose to become fans of their employer’s page. Most companies also permit fans to initiate their own discussion threads that do not originate from the sponsor. Other fans or representatives of the company can post responses to these comments. Visitors to an organisation wall can select to see only those discussions initiated by the sponsors and its fans; some organisations do not allow initiation of discussion threads by fans. Social media and public relations specialists have admonished corporate sponsors of facebook pages to analyse fan comments with considerable care. Although the individuals permitted to contribute to a company’s wall are putative friends of the company, some persons become fans merely to post comments of a negative, or even highly derogatory, nature. In addition, legitimate fans may write comments that are critical of an organisation’s products, services or employees. Social media specialist have attained near-consensus, concerning the most appropriate method of handling unfavourable comments: do not delete negative comments, rather attempt to respond to these remarks in as positive a manner as possible. Appropriate responses are intended to foster good public relations by assuring customers that their voices are being heard, their complaints are taken seriously, and 7 problems are being addressed. Unfavourable comments must not be ignored, because this clearly demonstrates a lack of corporate concern for the opinions of current or future clients. The purpose of this study is to examine the facebook pages sponsored by major international organisations to determine if the advice proffered by social media professionals is actually being adopted. More specifically, the study investigates if large corporations are responding to the unfavourable comments posted on their facebook wall or if these businesses prefer to delete or ignore the critical voices.