Social Media = Preventative Behavior

In reading chapter 2 from Erik Qualman’s Socialnomics, I was really intrigued by the author’s claim that social networks are “powerful enough to cause an adjustment in personal and corporate behavior on a macro-level.” Obviously I have thought about social media and its impact on how organizations perform business processes, but I hadn’t really thought about it from the preventative standpoint.  By this I mean that I hadn’t considered how social media has so deeply pervaded our society that people are reluctant to act in certain ways that they might if there were no way for the documentation to reach beyond the immediate bubble they choose to share their personal lives with. People have to take preventative action so that they do not experience repercussions (i.e. lose a job, get in trouble with parents, get kicked out of school) for the information and other content that can so easily surface through social media platforms.

                Similarly, employees (within companies who chose to engage in social media) must also monitor their online behavior because those individuals that are higher up than they are are probably watching what they are doing.  Overall, social media has spurred noticeable behavioral changes, but I would argue that these changes may prove extremely beneficial in the long run. I think that these changes have paved the way for appropriate and constructive interaction between customers and companies because all parties involved are fully aware of who is watching their online activity, and they alter their behavior accordingly.  For customers, they know companies are monitoring brand names through social media, so their voice will be heard, and for employees, they know that customers have higher expectations for the company’s response.  Moreover, employees know that others within the corporation are watching, so they must take proper action to better serve the customer. If they don’t, there will be consequences!

                Another point made in this article that I found interesting was the fact that “the concept of responding to customer unhappiness is certainly not new and not new on the Web. The difference with social media is the speed and ease in which this occurs.” It reminded me of one of the critical success factors that Rozwell pointed out in the Case Study we read a few weeks ago regarding Virtusa’s Social Media Plan. The article suggests that companies should extend existing policies to cover social media, rather than creating a new framework for it. I think this is important to note because it highlights the idea that even though the ways in which businesses are operating is changing because of social media, there are no radical concepts being introduced into the workforce.  Companies have always wanted to reach out to customers to prevent negativity from permeating their brand; it is just that new technologies are making the process faster and easier for both the customer and the company. This should hopefully ease employees’ concerns about engaging in social media, because if their company’s policy is well written and explicitly reflects the values and culture of the business, then they should know how to behave using social media platforms.

                Building off of the previous two points, I thought another great argument that Qualman made was that the most significant difference in how customers and companies used to voice their opinions/provide feedback and respond to criticism, respectively, has less to do with the technology used (i.e. message board versus Twitter) than it has to do with the sphere of influence. With this shift toward social media, the person posting a comment or complain knows exactly who is reading it, and those reading it can figure out more about who he or she is from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Companies can see how far the posted message may reach based on that person’s number of friends or followers, and gauge an idea of the impact it can make on the company—providing all the more reason to get in there and prove to the customer that they are willing to do whatever it takes to improve their experience with, and attitude toward, the company.  Not to mention preventing the message from putting a damper on their business…

                What are your experiences with companies through social media? Have you ever voiced your opinion on a message board (or something similar) before social media became so popular? If so, what differences do you notice in your experiences with each? Do you agree that the behavioral changes brought about by social media will prove advantageous?