My friend Cord Silverstein just posted a great piece about the Kevin Smith vs. Southwest Airlines social media development that happened over the weekend on his blog Marketing Hipster.
And just as Cord doesn’t want to debate who is right or who is wrong I don’t either (if you need the details of the incident you can catch up at Gawker.) I don’t even want to debate Cord’s point on how well Southwest handled this social media conversation and how all companies need to learn from them – mostly because I agree with him and I this would be repetitious.
But what I would like to do is ask this question:
Had it been an average Joe, someone like me with only a handful of Twitter followers compared to Kevin Smith, would this have even made the Podunk County News?
My answer is no. Not in million years. And to be honest I would not expect it to.
I do not have the influence on the magnitude of a Kevin Smith. But I can bet you a $100 dollars that had I tweeted the same experience – I never would have heard a “peep” from Southwest. Even if I blogged about it I can almost guarantee it would have fallen on deaf ears. Maybe if I called Live at 5…Southwest might have at least sent me a form letter expressing their regret and offering me a voucher to get on the plane first next time I flew.
I hate to lump all of corporate businesses into the same pile but more often than not the average consumer will not get this type of response from a social media slap. There are sites dedicated to exposing companies and their inability to provide customer service but with the exception of the occasional 60 Minute undercover story the major majority go unheard.
My point here is – as great as it was that Kevin Smith let the world know about a poor decision by a Southwest employee and as refreshing it was to see Southwest come out of the gate and engage in way that was real – there is a HUGE gap between those that can and those that can’t.
I hope that Southwest and other companies are beginning to engage in practices that not only address the big media moment of the day but look after the issues that are voiced by the thousands of us who actually fill their bottom line.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Tom,
Thanks for the call out. I guess the question I would ask from your post is what is the difference online versus offline? In the real world there are people who have great influence because of how much money they have, who they know or what their last name is. These people can get the attention of businesses and corporations while folks like us not so much. Why should that be any different online? If someone has worked hard and developed a following online why shouldn’t they have more influence than others?
You are right if you or I tweeted about this same incident, there would not be anywhere close to this kind of visibility and Southwest would not of called us. But I guess I don’t necessarily see anything wrong with that. As a business, Southwest has only a certain amount of time to focus their online efforts and they need to prioritize based on who is the biggest influencer.
Cord Silverstein´s last blog ..Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines: A social media case study
I don’t disagree with you here Cord. I get that those with the ability to get the attention usually do and I am not bashing them for that or the companies for doing so. I would prioritize them the same way if it were my business.
I am just miffed that every time a “Kevin Smith” makes some noise it becomes a media event. When what was done to them is no different then what happens to hundreds of people every day. Yet because of the difference in social status things are proportionally not equal.
Never going to be equal…I get that.