Top Ten Branded Social Media Nightmares
While the success stories of brands and social media surface daily throughout the blogosphere, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, there are just as many nightmares that are damaging the reputations of brands regularly. It has taken a while, as large and small brands are just now waking up to the fact that the world of user-generated media can make or break a brand when it fails to deliver on service or product. Since social media drives transparency in a very meaningful way, it forces companies to take a much more collaborative approach in resolving customer service issues... because when they falter...they can fall hard...and unfortunately end up on a TOP TEN list like this.
1- United Airlines, not a Guitar Hero!

For nine long months, while United Arilines did not deny the damage, the blame was basically past off on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate him for his loss. So in retaliation, Dave promised the last United staff member he spoke to (Ms. Irlweg ) that he would write and produce three songs about his negative experience with the airline and post YouTube videos for each to be viewed online by anyone and everyone. "United: Song 1" is the first of those songs. United: Song 2 has been written and video production is underway. United: Song 3 is forth coming as well. It’s a great David and Goliath story that shows how the little guy can take on an indifferent corporate giant and win. Dave's first song titled "United Breaks Guitars" has racked up a phenominal 4.5 million views on YouTube:
2- Comcast asleep at the switch!

UPDATE: After 1.3 million visitors watched the video online, the customer's service was finally restored. From my own experience, I must say in dealing with Frank Eliason and ComcastCares on Twitter, he and his team have been the most attentive and professional in not only turning problems around in a timely fashion but also following up with the customer (after the fact) to make sure the issue stays resolved. Where I think this company might fall a little short is that they need to train and empower their 'front line' customer service phone reps and on-site technicians to attend to issues properly before they escalate to the "Twitter" level.
3- Domino's Pizza, no way to top it off!

4- Motrin receives headaches from baby slingers!

Unhappy mothers posted Twitter complaints about it and their own YouTube video response.
Bloggers soon followed and within days, Motrin removed the ad and apologized. Some argue the moms were over-reacting, but by Motrin not testing its copy with this target audience up front – it left itself wide open for the 'wisdom of crowds' to regulate what they felt was not an acceptable promotion.
5-Amazon.com does not rank with the Gays and Lesbians!

Adding insult to injury, the following listing was still available on Amazon.com's site during this time period:

Additionally, despite being an Internet pioneer, Amazon's approach to Twitter is disappointing. The e-commerce giant uses a 'Twitter bot' to automatically publish excerpts from its US blog. These tweets add little value beyond that of a standard RSS feed. It does not show the online book retailer trying to interact with their customers. Maybe, now the company has acquired Zappos, they can take a lesson or two out of that company's exceptional customer-service techniques on Twitter.
6- Habitat Furniture Company caught piggy-backing!
The stylish furniture maker Habitat jumped on the Twitter bandwagon in a big way but was exposed for spamming. Its self-promoting tweets that included popular trending topics to attract attention. And if including a hashtag# for a popular HBO drama like "True Blood" wasn't enough, the company actually took advantage of the misfortunes of others by including "Mousavi" and the "Iran Election" on tweet updates as well.
Habitat Furniture SPAM tweets
Alex Burmaster, communications director at research firm Nielsen Online, said while some

7-Belkin pays for play!


Confidence in a brand's products is shaken when customers learn the reviews they're reading aren't truly consumer-generated. Belkin in turn acted swiftly to 're-instill trust' when Mark Reynoso, Belkin's president claimed responsibility:
- "We've acted swiftly to remove all associated postings from the Mechanical Turk system. We're working closely with our online channel partners to ensure that any reviews that may have been placed due to these postings have been removed."
8-EASYJET failed to seize their handle!


The disgruntled passenger was not well followed (with only 377 followers), but their Twitter feed only needed to capture the attention of one fellow disgruntled traveler to become a problem for EasyJet... and it did.

While it doesn't appear that the company was ever able to remove these negative accounts from the Twitter system, EasyJet did take matters into their own hands by securing their own account under the name '@easyJetCare.' Now it can go about the job of rebuilding its reputation.

9-Quiznos video subs for X-rated porn?

10- Dow Chemical gets a taste of their own medicine!
Dow Chemical Company faces social media mayhem from several social networking sites. Based on an advocate group registering for a Twitter account under the name of Dow Chemical (aka Spillspill), this negative tweet was one of the first shots leveled at the Pharma giant.
Soon to follow was a Facebook fan page registered under the name of 'Fuck Chemical Valley and Fuck Dow' (42 members). Fuck Chemical Valley and Fuck Dow Facebook fan page
Another Facebook page was set up by an activist group called the "Yes Men." who condemn Dow Chemical's acquisition of Union Carbide and its contamination of groundwater and food supply at the Bhopal plant. Dating back to December 3, 1984, the plant located in the Indian city of Bhopal released 42 tons of toxic gas into the atmosphere, exposing more than 500,000 people. The initial death toll was estimated at 10,000 with another 25,000 who have since died.Facebook B'eau Pal Page
The launch of "B'eau-Pal" water came as Bhopal prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of this catastrophe. Its purpose is a visual condemnation of the deadly toxin that killed so many. And a YouTube video have been posted to continue this ongoing protest.
To this day, Dow Chemical — who bought Union Carbide — has refused to clean up the site, while a whole new generation of Indians are being poisoned.
While Dow has refused to take direct responsibility, Andrew Liveris, Dow's Chairman and CEO, noted that "lack of clean water is the single largest cause of disease in the world and more than 4,500 children die each day because of it." He went on to assert that "Dow is committed to creating safer, more sustainable water supplies for communities around the world." The question is why haven't they started this work in Bhopal?
In an economy where there’s a growing amount of competition for a smaller and smaller piece of the pie, excellence in customer service becomes an issue of survival. It’s not always about having the fanciest or the techiest or the best Web 2.0 systems. Sometimes it’s as simple as creating an environment where everyone feels welcome and valued. Losing customers because a brand did not take heed of the social media environment we live in is lack of foresight. In today's transparent world, it's more important to double-think each online activity we engage in and live our brand's dream versus incur the wrath of our customers who are only one tweet or fan-page away of making our lives a living nightmare.
Now, I would like to hear from you. Which brand do you think created the greatest PR blunder in the social media space? Provide us with feedback in the comment section if you have any additional first-hand knowledge regarding this TOP TEN, or perhaps know of another social media failure I might have missed?