Between the trolls who sent Charlotte Dawson @MsCharlotteD into hospital, an incident that she recounted on 60 Minutes, the ACCC announcing that companies that don't moderate their social-media posts will be in trouble, and social media giant Facebook revealing that the global currency of social media, the "like", has in fact been inflated by fake bots, it has been a rough few weeks for the modern digital medium.
The rarely acknowledged risks of social media have punctured the well-crafted image of a marketer's paradise.
The recent warning from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission highlighting the need for big companies to correct "misleading Facebook posts", combined with the increasing social-media crises engulfing local brands has started whispers that some organisations may vacate the social-media field in which they so hurriedly pitched a tent. Right on time, Deloitte and Forbes released the findings of their executive survey. Not surprisingly, social media is now ranked as one of the top sources of risk, level with financial risk.
To safeguard brand and reputation, protect information and intellectual property, and mitigate serious legal actions, Australian businesses need to be more proactive about acknowledging and managing the risks associated with social media.
The acknowledgment by Facebook of fake "likes" on the platform is admirable. However, it undermines the argument of "social-media experts" around the world. So much emphasis is placed on how many likes a page can garner.
This is the medicine that had to be taken. The obsession with getting a huge number of likes, and similarly followers on Twitter has cheapened the real value of social media, that being the conversations within it.
The shock expressed by Australian companies after the ACCC announced it was requiring them to moderate their Facebook comments highlighted just how far these organisations and their public relations firms had departed from the true vision of social media.
If it is so difficult for brands and agencies to moderate their Facebook page, then were they really listening to their customers in the first place?
It has been a great ride, but the time has come for other corporate disciplines beyond marketing to join the social-media rodeo.
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