Social Media BP-Style
BP is finding out the hard way that maybe they should have had all their bases covered when it came to recent developments. Not only is there a major environmental disaster but the recent storm over some not so popular tweets surfacing from major social networks have left BP holding the bag.
With tweets such as:
‘The good news: Mermaids are real. The bad news: They are now extinct. #bpcares ‘
This was sent from a bogus BP account @BPGlobalPR. The real account of BP America Inc. is @BP_America. It has been posting appropriate messages including multiple daily updates and information on the tragedy that is unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico.
Followers of BP_America are dwindling as an online affront against the company gains momentum. Now a Facebook group, Boycott BP has surfaced with fans of around 100 thousand public, support for oil giant is dwindling.
The Boycott BP group is promoting everyone to stop purchasing products from BP. The social backlash against BP shows the power behind such social media platforms. What could have been a dirty little secret has now become common knowledge and people are demanding that BP be accountable for their actions. And rightly so. Their latest post further rankles followers:
“The matter of whether of not we can maintain a live feed during the ‘top kill’ procedure is under review and a decision has not been made.’
Being upfront, honest and transparent is one of the fundamental keys to successful social networking. One of BP’s downfalls is their lack of understanding of how social media works. Social media has given the public eyes into the daily developments of corporations.
Social media can be used to provide information and give people insight that situations, no matter how grim, are being addressed and that immediate steps are being taken to prevent disastrous situations. Hiding and not providing necessary information is not the way to go.
