Abuse Within the Groundswell

In reading the last two chapters of Li and Bernoff's book Groundswell what resonated with me was  the case study of BestBuy and Blue Shirt Nation in chapter 11.

While the concept of Blue Shirt Nation stated many positives that coincide with companies speaking with the groundswell within their own company, it failed to mention one huge negative. The company my mother works for* has a very similar website to Best Buy's Blue Shirt Nation. It is a forum where the President and executive board engages in conversation with their fellow employees.When the founders of Blue Shirt Nation were in the process of establishing the site "[t]hey took store teams bowling, getting feedback on what worked on the community and encouraging employees to participate" (Li, 217). This sag-ways into one of the issues of Company X's intranet forum. While the intention of the forum was to establish a direct line of communication between the employees of Company X and the higher-ups to improve the quality of the company it has not exactly panned out that way. Similar to Best Buy taking their employees out bowling, many of the questions that Company X pose are questions that are used to make the company seem more personable such as "What is your favorite band?" or "What are you looking forward to doing this weekend?" Groundswell has mentioned other companies occasionally posting questions like this on their message boards or blogs. Although this can help make a company more human, when more and more posts become like this and less about the company the groundswell is not being used in an appropriate way. For my mother, she and some of her fellow employees have grown frustrated with the companies forum. While the forum was created to increase company moral and improvement, it has not exactly done its job. My mother becomes increasingly  frustrated when she is working so much that she does not have time to look at the forum and when she finally does all she sees are multiple postings taking about the weather, their favorite band, and what their dream vacation is. What is even more frustrating is that while she is at work actually doing the job she is paid to do, many of her coworkers and bosses are on the company forum posting non work related things on the companies dime.

After reading about Blue Shirt Nation I decided to check out the forum. It turns out that since the book was published, Blue Shirt Nation no longer exists. After thinking about Company X's forum and the way it has been abused, I have to wonder if Blue Shirt Nation was really all it was cracked up to be or if in fact it proved to be more of a work hindrance after all.

*For the sake of privacy I will call the company Company X

Face Value of Facebook

After continuing to read Groundswell, the focus on transparency paired with various social media sites has got me wondering, what's with Facebook?

From the beginning, Groundswell has put an emphasis on not only talking with customers, but  listening to them as well.  Keeping this in mind, chapters 9 and 10 provide ways as well as case studies of companies that are doing both--they are having a conversation. "[B]y embracing the groundswell, you can move more quickly" (Li, 183). While there are still some members of society that are unfamiliar with social media, the majority of the world are active members on social media sites. Most people have a Facebook account, a Twitter account, a MySpace account or all three! Being familiar these sites, and being participants on the internet, when companies do something that we love or hate, most of us do not hesitate to start leaving comments, tweets, messages etc. demanding change. The case study of Dell provided a prime example of transparency as well as conversation. When their laptops and computers kept breaking down or even catching on fire combined with less than par customer service Dell customers stormed the internet with furious comments. In order to save their image Dell created their own blog.They laid everything out as well as listened to customers. "For Dell, listening and then acting was the crucial first step for its new social strategy" (207). So, what does all this have to do with Facebook?

Facebook is the number one social site. Almost everyone has a Facebook account. However, while we have no problem voicing our opinions and demanding change from other sites, we are rather passive when it comes to Facebook.

Old Facebook Layout

New Facebook Layout

                                                
It seems that for being the biggest social media site--the voice of the people--it actually is the least transparent. Usually once every few months Facebook changes their site layout without consulting their 200 million users. Once the site layout changes, the users are in an uproar, everyone's status and wall comment is in regards to how much they hate the change, hate the new layout. However, Facebook never changes the site back, and they continue to change the layout randomly every few months. They are not listening to their customers. This being said, they don't have to. We don't leave, there is not a mass exodus. Facebook doesn't need us, we need it. They know they can do what they want because Facebook has become such an integral  part of our lives that we'd rather be inconvenienced time and time again than really truly demand change. Furthermore, Facebook's privacy settings are always on the news.

Since Facebook started in 2004, it has been plagued with privacy issues. They are constantly getting in trouble for violating the rights and privacy of their users whether by selling their information, creating less than adequate privacy settings or by merely stating that any content posted  belongs to them, Facebook is not exactly "user friendly." All things considered, is it me or is it strange that while we demand transparency and conversation for most corporations, we are willing to let Facebook run the show? I don't know about you, but that doesn't sit right with me.

Reactions to Groundswell

This past summer I had an internship at a small, independent production company called Artigo/Ajemian Films. When I started the internship, we were in the midst of releasing their latest film BoyBand. One of the main things I was in charge of was social media marketing. After the premiere in June, the rest of my summer was spent keeping buzz going about the movie. The main way I attempted this was through BoyBand's Facebook fan page, Twitter account and Blog. However, this proved harder than I had originally thought it would be.

After reading the first six chapters of Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff's book Groundswell it has become very evident to me that not only garnering a presence on the internet but maintaining one as well is an endless job.

What struck me in chapter one was the story about the DVD code posted on Diggs.com. The fact that once something hits the internet that regardless of rules and regulations it truly belongs to the public is something that I was aware of but not to this magnitude. Although people can fight to have something removed, once something has gone viral there is no stopping it no matter what the law is.

Although I was familiar with some of the material in chapter two, it was nice to be reminded of the various social media outlets that can be used to market. Furthermore, being informed as to how certain social media elements can be used to market proves quite beneficial.

As an active participant in social media, it is often times hard to remember that different people associate with social media in different ways. Groundswell does a good job of breaking social media members into various categories: creators, critics, collectors, joiners, spectators, and inactives. In order to through a successful marketing campaign, one must keep all these categories in mind.

Reading chapter four would have been incredibly helpful this past summer in regards to promoting BoyBand online. Chapter four provides strategies for reaching your target market as well as reminding the reader of the pros and cons. It is good to be reminded that once something is on the internet it is on there for good and that there is no going back.

Both chapter five and six are helpful with providing detailed examples, reasons and strategies for listening as well as talking with one's target market. One thing that I really took away from these two chapters is that one should be open to change. For example, if a corporation starts up a blog with the intention of talking to the customers, they may find that the format is actually better suited for listening or vice versa, but if the company is unwilling to adapt then problems may arise.

Groundswell is an easy read, it is incredibly informative and helpful but since it is not a textbook it is easier to read and comprehend.