Pear shape

The proliferation of social media use by corporations reminds me of an old Simpsons’ episode where Homer’s brother Herb is trying to come up with an invention and Homer tells him to simply use and existing product and just add a clock to it. Many Corporations think that by just participating in social media they will reap all the rewards without giving any thought to the risks involved with hilarious results.

I’ll be looking at Harvey World Travel (HWT) and for those who have been living under a rock or don’t go to the many shopping centers scattered throughout Brisbane, HWT is a travel agency, essentially they act as a middleman between us and pretty much everything in the travel industry, plane, trains, auto mobiles, hotels, tours, cruises etc.

I chose Harvey World Travel for the company that I will be looking at in respect to risks of social media use as the travel industry I feel is very tight and cut throat. The advent of the Web 2.0 technologies combined with websites like Wotif, Traveladvisor etc. has meant that travel agencies have been one of the most impacted industries, essentially these technologies have cut out the middleman. As my friend who worked for a travel agency to me a couple of years ago “even grandma and grandpa are using the internet to book their stuff”.

While all companies face legal risks, which most are internal risks by nature, it is customer service companies that I feel are subject to a slew of external risks and are the most ill equipped to handle social media as the sheer volume of interactions means that they can't be 100% on the ball.

Loss of confidential information (Internal and External Risk) 

Dundas lawyers gave the example of LinkedIn, where employees can upload email address book inviting clients to connect, which could be construed as a breach of confidential information as they are publicising organisation’s database. This example is also valid for HWT. Another example I would like to propose is one where these types of company may show to the outside world, via a blog, twitter or facebook where their customers have been or potentially worse where they are e.g. HWT posts on Facebook, Ms Jane Doe is currently enjoying an amazing holiday in Fiji, and someone assumes that if she is away the house would be easier to burgle. While this example is far-fetched, when it comes to risk assessment you have to look at worse case scenario.

False statements and or misleading and deceptive conduct (Internal and External Risks) 

There was an instance earlier this year where Samsung paid university students to post negative comments on a competitors website for one of their new products. As harnessing collective intelligence becomes very important to companies, there is the temptation of creating false comments. While the Samsung case is of an internal nature; Samsung knowingly paid the students. There have been legal cases in Australia that put the onus of liability on the companies if they do not monitor their social media pages for false, misleading and deceptive information even if it’s from a third party. A scenario for HWT would be if they were posting on their blog and making up travel stories about how awesome HWT is or paying someone to post nice things about HWT on other web pages.

Discrimination (Internal Risk) 

I go back to my first posting where someone did not get a job because of photos they had on their Facebook page, the scenario that I propose is HWT management finds out about someone’s sexual orientation through Facebook and subsequently fires the employee. There are cases of companies not only trawling through potential employees but also current employees. This one is not far-fetched at all as it is quiet easy to make a sly remark about work on Facebook thinking that you are immune.

Reputation

Loss of reputation I think is the biggest risk and all the other risks lead to this one. Brand name and reputation is everything and while the legal risks are real, the fines that are given out aren't really that big in comparison to how big some of these companies are. But reputation and brand name can’t be bought. If you fail on the three other risks they all lead to the brand name being hurt and a quick google check will confirm that a lot of companies just don’t get social media or to what extent people will go when they have had a bad experience. And companies do care about their reputation online, just look at my first post where my girlfriend and I get to stay in a penthouse next time in Orlando because we threatened bad feedback on social media sites.

Mitigating Risks

Dundas lawyers has a comprehensive list of safeguards that range from blocking media sites at work, to monitoring, introducing a social media policy, training etc.

Some others that I can think of:

HWT you are not the best thing since sliced bread, some people really despise the company and given an outlet they will unleash, just like Dominos and McDonalds found out.

HWT don’t give into temptation and make up “testimonies”. I've become very sceptic of any comments in a comments section, I could easily go make up a dummy account and put some positive comments on this blog post… hmm…

HWT and really for any other company out there, actually research what has worked and what hasn't, and actually think why it did or didn't. It is not simply a case of adding a clock to an existing product.

References

Abbate, G. (2011). Pear [Image]. Retrieved August 24, 2013, from http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7143/6473968111_f5ca81d15e_o_d.jpg
Anne, G. (2008). Homer talking alarm clock (front) [Image]. Retrived August 24, 2013, from http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3066/2745274172_1dab4ff565_b_d.jpg
Dundas Lawyers. (2011, August 19). Do organisations need social media policies? [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.dundaslawyers.com.au/do-organisations-need-social-media-policies/
Dundas Lawyers. (2011, August 24). Legal risks of social networking for business [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.dundaslawyers.com.au/legal-risks-of-social-networking-for-business/
Isabel, L. (2010). Clock-Making [Image]. Retrieved August 28, 2013, from http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1329/4726327159_cdd0a79f4f_b_d.jpg