Ignoring Social Media at your own Peril:

As I am continuously trying to tell people and companies, we are now living in a very brave new world of Social Media and Word of Mouth viral marketing, which we ignore at our own peril, transport for London have just been involved in a Classic Case/Example of this, which I really do feel needs highlighting.

A London Underground worker who was seen yelling at an elderly passenger in a video was forced to resigned from his job because of a have a go citizen journalist and his very slick use of Social Media and word of mouth marketing, it is a very real story the we all should be now taking notice of ,  just in case our companies fall foul of the same set of circumstances, do you know what your staff are Facebooking or Twittering let alone what they are posting on YouTube.

Transport for London said Ian Morbin, a customer service assistant, handed in his resignation over the incident at Holborn station on 15 October.

Mr Morbin has apologised but TfL said the behaviour was "unacceptable".

The video shows him calling the man "a jumped up little git" and "little girl" before apparently threatening to "sling him under the train".

The statement said: "Mr Ian Morbin, a Customer Service Assistant at Holborn Tube station, has advised London Underground that he wished resign because of the incident.

Arm stuck

The incident was captured on video by businessman Jonathan McDonald, a fellow commuter at the central London station.

Describing his version of events leading up to the scene, Mr McDonald said the elderly man had got his arm stuck in the door of the train.

When the victim told the Tube worker what had happened, he was sworn at three times in an attempt to make him stand behind the yellow line, he said.

Mr Morbin can be heard threatening to call the police to deal with the passenger, who is understood to have done nothing wrong.

Mr. McDonald posted the video on YouTube and then put up a Tweet about it and the rest is history as they say, 203,421 views later and god only knows how many Re-Tweets and the game is up so to speak.  I can see this type of thing, happening again and again from now on,  after all we have already seen the damage when  a pop star or country and western singer from Nashville gets caught doing cocaine, once that goes viral in this day and age that is his career effectively finished before it even gets started.  Well now it can happen in the general world of employment.

After the footage emerged London Mayor Boris Johnson put a response on Twitter saying he was "appalled by the video".

So if your now worried about how this Brave new world of Social Media, and how the rise of the citizen journalist could effect your company, please get in touch with us so we can advise you on how not to fall foul of it, our legal dept is expert and has long term experience of social media policy and contract writing to protect your company from any little incidents like this.  Anyway have a look for yourself and see what you think, the actual video is posted below, Regards….. Ashe, IT Bloke – London.

CORPORATE SOCIAL NETWORKING:

JUST A GIMMICK OR A POWERFUL MARKETING TOOL?

While social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube are becoming as dominant as newspapers, magazines, radio and television for consumers, corporate usage of social networking has been limited to individual employees using social networking tools such as Linked In to build their professional networks. However, organisations are now beginning to understand and embrace the benefits of corporate social networking.

Corporate social networking offers the opportunity to encourage your customers to interact more closely with you and each other driving traffic to your website and adding value to customers' perception of you. After all, you're providing them with access to your social network and the amount of industry information that can be generated by your users and made accessible to others is potentially immense.

The early stigma that surrounded user generated content is now disappearing as users latch on to the real value of information provided by their peers, partners and competitors. In fact, as such projects develop, some organisations are recognising that it's not a bad thing to allow customers to communicate amongst themselves and there are real benefits to be derived.

Customers have a tendency to trust their network in preference to your marketing and the interactions they have online can provide you with an excellent insight into the needs of your markets and the perceptions your customers have of your service. This is real information straight from the users' keyboards and in some lights could be looked at as more valuable than expensive market research.

Placing yourself at the heart of these discussions by providing the platform for such interactions, enhances customer perceptions of your organisation and is an innovative way of communicating with them. In addition, you become involved in your customers' conversations and are able to position yourself as their friend and a member of their network.

In a variety of forms, internet-based social networking has been around since the inception of the web and there is now a generation in the workplace that expects to chat about issues they face in the workplace in interactive forums. These aren't the passive media consumers of previous generations who would read direct mail or industry publications, these users want to participate, question and discuss.

Such users can only increase in number as subsequent generations of advanced internet users come to the job market. Those organisations that provide a vibrant, well-managed, easy-to-use platform upon which their customers, suppliers and other interested parties can network, debate and share knowledge will have in their hands a powerful marketing tool that places them at the centre of the debate. ~ Regards: Toby... IT Bloke... London.