Nestle vs. Greenpeace

Nestle's latest social media outburst all started when protesters of Greenpeace (an environmental protection group) disagreed with their choice of purchasing palm oil (which aids in destructing rainforests) as an ingredient for Kit Kat bars. The protesters took their frustrations out to YouTube by creating a parady video of how Nestle is a killer. In return, Nestle responded by simply asking YouTube to take the video down. However, the video continued to spread on numerous accounts and the protesters made an additional parady video of the Nestle workers' reaction. Nestle made the mistake of worrying too much about the video and not letting it go. Because they were defensive, the video spread into a worse manner than it initially was.

That's not the only thing Nestle was defensive about. Greenpeace also took their frustration to Facebook by creating Nestle logos with the word "Killer" in liu of "Kit Kit." Therefore, Nestle responded on their Facebook page by saying that they welcome comments, but if someone was too negative or had this type of logo as their picture, the comment will get deleted. There were some unconventional comments left and apparently, a Nestle rep moderating their Facebook page was leaving rude responses to the commenters. This was a no-no, as like my previous blog with the VP of the movie theatre, what you say can't be taken back.

Honestly, I don't think anybody was in the right in this situation. Greenpeace reminded me of PETA with the harsh lashing coming with not agreeing with something. I feel like they acted out too immaturely, and were just straight up bullies to Nestle. Then again, it's not right for Nestle for use palm oil as an ingredient for their product and social networking is a great way to get the word out. I'm not sure if this was a responsible use of Facebook or not. I think the situation could have been handled differently in a more civil way. While taking out frustrations online is effective, I hate to see negativity on my precious Facebook, as it's meant to be a fun social networking site.

Nestle's Reaction Backfiring
More info on protester's actions to Nestle
Nestle's backlash on Facebook
Nestle's bad use of PR on Facebook
Nestle's Facebook page

"What Happens In Vegas Stays On Facebook"

I was very excited to attend the presentation "What Happens In Vegas Stays On Facebook" for my Writing for Multimedia Class. The name of the seminar interested me as I'm a very active user of social media and thought that it was a clever way to sum up how public our digital second lives can be. I not only learned about the precautions of exposing too much or little of yourself, but also found out features within websites I had no idea about. The first presenter Emily Lenard, Associate Director of WiredWI, explained how I could limit a certain group to seeing certain parts of my Facebook profile and pictures without eliminating every detail. I can still load pictures up for my friends to see, yet ban people who may not appreciate the pictures so much by grouping them into a list. I also learned that having more than one account on Facebook could result in being permanently deleted from the Facebook world. This concerned me as I know people who have made a second account containing clean information for potential employers. I was relieved, however, when Emily said that your Facebook account IS as private as you make it and employers can absolutely not pay to see past the privacy settings. Phew!

The second presenter Katie Felten, President of MKE Live, explained how to use the features in LinkedIn and told us that it is almost unnecessary to pay for a premium account as the free account allows you to do anything that is vital for an impressive profile. She also taught us the ways in how to grow networks and how to keep your internet profile as professional as possible, as LinkedIn is a professional website. Her presentation helped me learn the ways of this site as I’m a very new member and am still getting used to the features. I also hope to get a job out of college and think that employers definitely check out social media for each potential employee. All in all, I learned a lot from these presentors and am very glad I attended.

Check out MKE Live: http://www.mkelive.com/
Check out WiredWI: http://www.wiredwisconsin.org/
Follow MKE Live on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mkelive
Follow WiredWI on Twitter: http://twitter.com/WiredWI

BAD Customer Service!

An unsatisfied customer, Sarah, received a nasty letter in response to her complaint to a movie theatre from the Vice President of the entertainment business, Steven Payne. This email he enclosed consisted of him rudely telling her off and “to go f*** herself.” I was deeply appalled by how unprofessional and rude this comment was. I don’t understand how anybody could possibly think it would be okay to respond to a customer, no matter how rude they may come off to be, in such an immature way and get away with it. Within his response, he considered her email a joke, but if her email was such a joke, why not just ignore it and move on? Why not sit on it instead of speaking out so inappropriately? Once he realized the damaged he had done, he tried to apologize in a following email but it was too late to take it back.

Nobody in their right mind would let the entire situation go after receiving a vulgar and degrading email from such a higher authority of a company. Therefore, I think it's completely acceptable that the customer lashed back by creating a Facebook group, called BOYCOTT St. Croix Falls Cinema 8, to spread awareness to the public about how unprofessional both the movie theatre and the V.P. are. Facebook is one of the most popular social networking websites, and is a great way to get the word out fast through viral marketing.

I recently came across a similar fan page like this, called “I Hate Bronze Body & Brew and Want My Money Back!” The owner of this tanning salon scammed hundreds of customers in Whitewater out of their money as they were encouraged to stock up on tans just days before he up and left town. I don’t think Facebook executives would have any reason to disapprove of fan pages like these. Such poor customer service deserves to be broadcasted to spread awareness of how unprofessional these businesses are and what people should avoid.

BOYCOTT St. Croix Falls Cinema 8 (Evergreen Entertainment LLC) Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=335606723728

We Support Steven Payne Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Support-Steven-Payne-VP-of-St-Croix-Falls-Cinema-8-Evergreen-Enterta/369249815728?ref=share#!/pages/We-Support-Steven-Payne-VP-of-St-Croix-Falls-Cinema-8-Evergreen-Enterta/369249815728?v=info&ref=share

Emails between Sarah and Steven Payne: http://consumerist.com/2010/02/theater-vp-go-f-yourself-here-are-directions-to-another-theater.html

I Hate Bronze Body & Brew and Want My Money Back! Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/I-HATE-Bronze-Body-Brew-and-I-Want-My-Money-Back/334337084565?ref=ts