Discussing customers in social networks (BBC Radio 4 interview)
22nd January 2009, 11:14 pm by Matt Rhodes
Last year we wrote about the case of the Virgin Atlantic employees who were sacked for talking about customers (and indeed their employers) in social networks, and why you should be careful what you say on Facebook. At the time we wrote that:
…we’ve probably all talked about work gossip, probably with a small group of friends, privately in a bar or over dinner. What these Virgin employees did may have felt just like that – they were in a group with their friends sharing work gossip. The problem is that unlike that secluded table in the bar or restaurant, they were talking in a very public place. Perhaps the most public of places. This was their mistake.
This week had seen more cases in the UK of employees using social networks to talk about their employers and in particular their customers. With employees at supermarket chain Tesco posting reportedly abusive comments about customers in groups on Facebook. This raises a number of issues about how employers should react and when something stops being a personal or seemingly light-hearted discussion and starts being offensive in some real way.
Today I was interviewed by BBC Radio 4‘s You and Yours programme about this very issue. About what employers should do when their employees are talking about customers in social networks. About how they might set up their own online communities as both an outlet for these opinions and as a source of innovation and co-creation. And about why even if employees do talk about customers online, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
If you didn’t catch the show then do listen to the segment below.
Subscribe to updates from the FreshNetworks Blog
Some more reading
- Social Networking Begins With You
- British Airways’ Staffers Ridicule Customers
- Why you should be careful what you say on Facebook
- Waitrose staff post abusive messages about customers on internet
- Facebook Now Nearly Twice The Size Of MySpace Worldwide
- Facebook message about night out ‘betrays’ man who phoned in sick for work
For social media agency support get in touch or follow us on Twitter.
Benjamin:
Interesting take. There are big difference between b2c and b2b here. In the b2b world, there are issues of fair disclosure (if it is a large unannounced customer) and confidentiality clauses in contracts. I’d be interested in your take on that.
23 January 2009, 9:50 amAndy Headworth:
A good interview Matt, with the right message given!! There is a place for social networks in the business world. Trouble is the few bits of bad publicity that the media hunt down, puts so many companies off!!
23 January 2009, 10:31 amSocial media on Radio 4 « Competitive intelligence on e-recruitment SaaS Vendors:
[...] Freshnetworks: Discussing customers in social networks – BBC Radio 4 interview. [...]
10 February 2009, 5:23 pm