Reply to the peer discussion post
Peer post:
I think when evaluating whether social media is net benefit for a business or a consumer, I would say it depends in most cases. While social media has disrupted and altered the ways in which we communicate and do business across every possible area of our lives, it has also created a scenario where firms, organizations and individuals risk substantial risks to their operations (in the case of businesses) and reputations/livelihoods (in the case of businesses and individuals). Taking the most prominent examples, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, companies can now post a status update or a colorful piece of advertising that reaches countless users with the simple scroll of their own individual feed. This effectively ensures their brand and product creates some sort of traction, and potentially links the consumer to the businesses’ webpage in a faster amount of time. However, where this can essentially end up as a ‘double-edged sword’ is when consumers post dissatisfied reviews of the product or service that influences others to formulate a similar opinion before they even had a chance to taste that new soft-drink or wear those new sneakers.
The phrase “online is forever” is one many people should be aware of and heed, as companies risk extreme reputational (and financial) ruin if their product ends up on the striking end of the “mob” mentality that social media can buttress. A recent example was an irate man who said some terribly racist, xenophobic and cruel things to employees at a soft drink shop who had accidentally prepared his son’s beverage (whom had an alleged peanut allergy) with nuts; the employees had posted the entire video of what transpired and uploaded it to their social media accounts— the backlash was swift and the man was essentially denounced in every possible fashion when the video went viral (in addition to losing his employment).
This will no doubt follow him for the rest of his life and that effect is obvious. What was not obvious was his employer’s reaction to the events; they investigated the incident and sided with the employees, also denouncing the man’s actions. This was met with mass approval and potentially increased sales from loyal customers who believe these actions were despicable. Companies of course take risks in these matters and social media has opened those types of questions up for serious debate among corporate strategy teams (10TV, 2022).
