Fail Fast: “Amazon Fail” and Unprecedentedly Fast Spread of information on the Social Web.
From Wikipedia: Crowds that gather on behalf of a grievance can involve herding behavior that turns violent, particularly when confronted by an opposing ethnic or racial group.
- Behavior in crowds
For a purveyor of books and an Internet corporation Amazon seems to have had little understanding of human psychology or the spread of information on social networks. Which is somewhat ironic.
If you are not up to snuff on “Amazonfail” you can catch the recap in part 1 or just Google it, or better yet go to twitter and watch as the saga continues to unfold.
There is little disputing that what showed up on Amazons front door on Sunday evening was a mob, the only thing that is up for debate is whether that mob was assembled for just reasons or whether they acted on sheer emotion and impulse. That debate will continue to rage on and I for one do not intend try to settle it. I will stick to the known’s and the matters that are less emotive but still intriguing that this situation.
Exhibit One: “Amazonfail” underlines the importance of Public Relations skills in a time and age when missteps or inaccuracies can be instantaneously spread across Social Networks and ignite massive and unforeseen changes in consumer behavior.
If there is one indisputable fact about “Amazonfail” it is that Amazon’s greatest failure was their response to the situation, which did nothing but fuel the flames. They might as well uttered the immortal phrase, “ Let them eat cake,” to the gathering hordes at the castle gates. The vague explanation of “it was a glitch” was met with not only disbelief, but provided further fodder when hedro titles were not affected by said glitch that had similar content as the gay variety.
Exhibit Two: Like a nuclear bomb, now that its power has been unleashed there is no way to stuff the social networking genie back in the bottle. If Twitter has enough power to put an organization as massive as Amazon on their heels is there a limit to its power to generate social action.
Let’s face it organizing a protest or rally takes work, especially if you want to put troops on the ground, but organizing on the web is literally as easy as pushing a button. Internet protests have gained attention several times this year. Probably the most notorious was the infamous “Motrin Moms” affair which has been eclipsed by “Amazonfail.” In terms of scale.
Both instances have illustrated the immense power that consumers have due to the ability for every individual to publish and share their opinion on a matter. It also demonstrates the terrible inertia that a message can gain through modern social networking. Once initiated these groups behave like mobs, and truthfully they may be a little more unruly and hard to disperse because on the web there is no threat of jail or teargas to frighten off the unruly protestor!
Exhibit Three: The timeline has been drastically shortened. Due to the instantaneous nature of social networks like Twitter news often travels faster through social networks than through traditional news channels. The effect is exponential; businesses must respond faster than ever to surfacing controversies or they will certainly become the next victim of the “Fail Whale.”
Conclusions: While the focus of the majority of internet uprisings we have observed have been critical, there is a great potential for the spread of information that could be beneficial for business or political causes as well. Using our nuclear bomb example again, these reactions simply release a tremendous amount of energy, uncontained it is an unparalleled destructive force, but when contained it can be used for our benefit.
It is more important than ever to be watchful of the chatter that is surfacing about us on the web, and quell the sparks of discontentment before they erupt into a blaze. We also must connect with the communities that have interest in our products or services, establish a connection and build a positive rapport. From this point on publicity and public relations strategies must take the power of social networks into account. If rapper 50cent has a vice president of digital marketing, that serves this function, shouldn’t you?
Finally, and maybe most importantly, no message or communication that you send to a client or customer should be considered confidential, unless it’s accompanied by a non-disclosure agreement. Everything is only one link, one copy and paste, or one tweet away from infamy or praise. I am quite sure that the hapless individual that sent the message that Marc Probst received from Amazon ever considered that it would snowball into the biggest PR nightmare the company has ever experienced, but it did.
