There were 2 viral sensations here in the UK last week all of which highlight really clearly how a little negative press on line can clearly kill off you credibility of you’re company or personal brand.
The first major event occured on the London Underground when a employee dealt poorly with a passenger. Happens all the time you say? Well yeah it might do but this time it was also videoed by blogger Jonathan MacDonald. The video then went viral via YouTube and the employee was suspsended. The full post can be found at the link above and is a really interesting read.
The second incident that Social Media got hold of was the gagging order on the Guardian for the potential environment scandal of Trafigura. Within a hour it was one the most popular trending topics on Twitter as well as all over the press and blogs. By the end of the day the gagging order have be removed.
Many large companies and organisations still doubt the power of Web 2.0 and Social Media and how it can easily affect change. How wrong they are.
BTW Johnathon has a great follow up post called Understanding the Power of Social Media where he gives some great insight in to how the incident went viral and what steps anyone can undertake to do the same thing. Good reading.
