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Social media: Friend as well as foe

Last night I watched BBC Look North. Normally I’m more of a Game of Thrones/ Suits / SonsofAnarchy / BoardwalkEmpire fan - basically anything slick, potentially on HBO and pumped full of US money.

Last night’s Look North however was a bit special as I had just writted about a Sheffield scissor factory that had been brought back from the brink of potential failure by a viral video that was featured on the show.

I’d called up earlier that day and spoken to their managing director for a quote and I have never talked to anyone in manufacturing that had sounded so chuffed.

This is a prime example of what social media can do for businesses, and sometimes it is the least planned, most innocent clip, documentary or even tweet or Facebook post that can start something off.

Similarly the twee conversation between Tesco Mobile, Cadbury UK, Yorkshire Tea et al on Twitter, a brilliant publicity stunt, making the brands personable and likeable (though in my opinion pretty sickening) - a choice snippet of which I’ve inserted below.

Automated social media on the other hand is a different story.

The Bridlington Free Press invited anyone to submit a liveblog with #bridtweet, and as Buzzfeed so eloquently put it, total carnage ensued. If anyone’s been watching Huddersfield Retweets recently, you’ll get the picture: automated tweets/replies are the devil’s work.

Yesterday Sheffield Hallam also came under the ridicule of the merciless press, as A level results came out and the universities account employed automated tweets to help them out - replying to everything, and I mean everything, relating to graduation day. Obviously students cottoned on to this.

So the moral of the story is, watch out what your companies social media accounts are doing. Once it’s out there, you can never take it back. Buzzfeed and its ilk will mercilessly rip on you until you become a meme or have to ask Google to delete everything that points towards yours or your companies existence.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .