Slashdot Mirror
SeaWorld and Others Discover That a Hashtag Can Become a Bashtag
HughPickens.com writes Alison Griswold writes that in an effort to improve its tanking image, SeaWorld launched a new advertising campaign this week to educate the public about its "leadership in the care of killer whales" and other work to protect whales in captivity and in the wild. As part of that head-on initiative, someone at SeaWorld decided to invite Twitter users to pose their questions to the company directly using the hashtag #AskSeaWorld. That was not a good idea as twitter users bashed Sea World relentlessly.. "As easy as it is to make fun of SeaWorld here, the real question is why any company still thinks hosting an open Twitter forum could be good for public relations," writes Griswold. "So maybe SeaWorld's social and PR folks just really have no idea what they're doing. Even so, you'd think they'd have learned from the corporate failures before them."
Let's review some of the times this has backfired, starting with the infamous McDonald's #McDStories Twitter campaign of January 2012. Rather than prompting customers to share their heart-warming McDonald's anecdotes, the hashtag gave critics a highly visible forum to share their top McDonald's horror stories. MacDonalds pulled the campaign within two hours but they discovered that crowd-sourced campaigns are hard to control. Three years later the #McDStories hashtag is still gathering comments. "Twitter Q&As are a terrible idea.," concludes Griswold. "A well-meaning hashtag gives critics an easy way to assemble and voice their complaints in a public forum. Why companies still try them is a great mystery. Maybe they'll all finally learn from SeaWorld and give this one horrible PR trick up for good."
Let's review some of the times this has backfired, starting with the infamous McDonald's #McDStories Twitter campaign of January 2012. Rather than prompting customers to share their heart-warming McDonald's anecdotes, the hashtag gave critics a highly visible forum to share their top McDonald's horror stories. MacDonalds pulled the campaign within two hours but they discovered that crowd-sourced campaigns are hard to control. Three years later the #McDStories hashtag is still gathering comments. "Twitter Q&As are a terrible idea.," concludes Griswold. "A well-meaning hashtag gives critics an easy way to assemble and voice their complaints in a public forum. Why companies still try them is a great mystery. Maybe they'll all finally learn from SeaWorld and give this one horrible PR trick up for good."
to control their own image, so they don't need to control the campaign. If patrons are happy, they'll do the advertising for them.
Ad campaigns are easily subverted. Case in point. If you're going to do something like that, you'd best be sure you're squeaky clean and that the public loves you. And if you're a souless corporation, the answer to both those questions is inevitably "no."
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Clearly they're at fault, how dare they challenge the official line?
Just like poor Cathy Rodgers, she politely asked the public for their Affordable Care Act horror stories?
What happened? That spiteful and malicious public dared, dared, I tell you, to post stories about how it worked for them, how they benefited.
Terrible and shameful.
Clearly we need to eliminate anyone who dares contest the party line. It's the only way.
Share your heartwarming stories about Slashdot at #slashdot!
Allowing people to voice their opinions to other members of the public is obviously a terrible idea, as any smart thinking capitalist would know. How dare people talk about businesses, the pillars of our society, in anything but praise? In these parts of the internet, we will have none of that. If our readers get out of line, they're bitchslapped into submission, if the moderation doesn't take care of it.
#boston2024
Let's find examples of it working, and let that encourage more companies to engage over twitter. Because the common thread here is these are all companies that deserve criticism.
Oh I'm sure the mild-mannered, even-tempered and highly educated Slashdork community would NEVER say anything negative about Slashdot.
but why the hell would anyone use Twitter? What's your reasonable best case scenario? You could get a book deal maybe. On the other hand, you're playing Russian Roulette with everything you post. Say something the internet finds offensive at that time and they'll burn you to the ground.
Publicity.
Try posting something on your web site, if you're not one of the biggest or most-watched companies in your industry, and see what reaction you'll get.
more importantly, it doesn't take the whole of 'the internet' to find something offensive in some way, shape, or form; but just a few people.. and once it hits facebook, twitter, reddit and the like, it's no different than hoaxes spreading like california wildfires on a dialup-era aol.
are what you become when your not qualified to be management. They aren't fit for anything else otherwise they would be doing that instead.
Expressing opinions is just fine, but it's not in these businesses' interests to provide a forum for it when this forum is not in their control. It's opening the flood-gates to let a trickle of a stream into the town downstream and being surprised when the entire reservoir rushes down the valley.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Yet these are two of the most "hated" brands for reasons that have nothing to do with the services they provide patrons.
Disagree. They are loved AND hated for exactly the same reasons and often by the same people. People love low prices but hate the side effects of relentless focus on low prices like low wages. People love consistency and knowing what to expect but hate the monotony of those very same things. People love good service but hate paying for it. People love having jobs but hate working.
In short, people are bi-polar in their attitudes towards big corporations. It's not as simple as saying people love big corporations or hate them. It's both at the same time.
So you agree that the interests of corporations don't align with the interests of the people? As a society, we used to have a firm belief that seeking to control the public discourse was a bad thing. Now people employ spin doctors, call companies stupid for letting people talk about them unsupervised, and all but demand the gatekeepers to enforce "decency standards".
Hopefully someday more companies will come to the realization that trolls gon' troll.
Hopefully more people will someday realize that it is the trolls that show us the very point to our own existence, and the path to our own enlightenment.
Or some such garbage.
For most companies, is just performing the experiment of how well individual rights hold up against outraged mobs in our society. (sadly they don't hold up particularly well, just ask this guy http://www.theverge.com/2014/1... )
Maybe they'll all finally learn from SeaWorld and give this one horrible PR trick up for good.
I hope not. It'd make twitter a lot more boring.
Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach either, do tech support.
It is only a bad idea when the vast majority of people hate your business practices.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
So you agree that the interests of corporations don't align with the interests of the people?
Most of 'the people' don't give a crap, because they're too busy living their own lives to be worrying about how others live theirs. But there's a vocal minority dedicated to being outraged at anything, who are massively overrepresented on the Internet and in the media.
Because they're twits.
Interests are interests whether you consciously recognize them or not and whether you're vocal about them or not. People who are "too busy living their own lives" generally depend on other people defending their interests. Otherwise the lives they're living in blissful ignorance wouldn't be possible.
This has been happening A LOT lately as Autism Speaks tries to use social media to engage would-be donors.
The problem with Autism Speaks? It's not run by actually Autistic people at all. Many actually autistic people contend that Autism Speaks is the major catalyst to the public fearing autistic people, looking for a cure (silly, once you understand what autism actually is), endorsing fillicide, etc. So every time Autism Speaks comes up with a hash tag to promote themselves, autistic people take over and let people know just how badly this group of pretenders has represented our interests (all the while hogging up $$$ that would have gone to more legitimate autism orgs like ASAN).
See #MSSNG #AutismSpeaks10 #AutismHeroes #HighFunctioningMeans #LowFunctioningMeans #FunctioningLabelsMean #ActuallyAutistic #1in68 #BoycottAutismSpeaks
How are you so callous is money all it takes for a human to not care about the creatures keep?
Interests are interests whether you consciously recognize them or not and whether you're vocal about them or not. People who are "too busy living their own lives" generally depend on other people defending their interests. Otherwise the lives they're living in blissful ignorance wouldn't be possible.
Yes, comrades! The masses need the brave vanguard of Twitter Warriors so they know what their interests should be!
The same thing happened with Usenet back in the 90's. Some legitimate well known companies thought it would be a good idea to spam, or if not directly spamming, at least have some presence in certain forums to pimp products. This CAN work and be a benefit for your company if done correctly but it is not easy to pull off. You have to stick to the part of helping customers and not get involved in battles, flame wars, or he said she said because you will lose the battle even if fundamentally you were right..
This happens in topic specific forums too to this day. Vendors and companies are in some forums for representation but they do not get sucked into the flames or the battles. I know about the car analogies here and this is another one. If you post in a car forum how great your companies tires are, expect some negative replies. If someone has a problem with your tire or is considering your tires and you reply with honest information and facts, not market speak, you almost always will be thanked and be safee. Keep focused on helping specific people or people as a whole and you should be fine. Twitter is a free for all not leading to much threaded discussion so it is probably worse then Usenet and forums though. Tread lightly and it may work.
Well gamergate uses it as one of the main pushbacks against moral authoritarians and prudes. The "social justice" crowd loves social media, so there needs to be some people who are willing to push back against those who are out to try and cause actual harm.
Om, nomnomnom...
I'll assume you're trolling, but I have a feeling that I might be giving you too much credit.
You're never going to defeat the armies of the basement-dwellers on their own turf. Pick another battlefield.
Anyone else think something along the lines of a hashtag being used to remote exploit SeaWorlds network by using Shebang lines in twitter?
I dunno. Too much internets today.
Anyone who remembers how badly #AskNeal went down as a hockey fan, I'm surprised anyone would ever post #AskWhatever ever again because it is basically taunting the trolls. Trolls will come, and trolls will go, but don't encourage them.
God spoke to me
Putting social justice in scare quotes while blathering about moral authoritarians is amusing enough, but to do it while equivocating about your side's wilful invasion community spaces for the purposes of moral crusade? Classy.
Putting social justice in quotes is appropriate. It is a movement that is called a specific thing which many people have reasonable belief to be not the actual intended purpose. Saying "Social Justice" is akin to saying "Clean Coal". There is no such thing, but it is a designation that is well known.
Read subject. Seaworld did this on purpose.
"You're never going to defeat the armies of the basement-dwellers on their own turf. Pick another battlefield."
Ah the internet... Just chock full of wisdom. Just like twitter no doubt.
"Putting social justice in scare quotes while blathering about moral authoritarians is amusing enough, but to do it while equivocating about your side's wilful invasion community spaces for the purposes of moral crusade? Classy."
WOW! Can you sing and dance too?
On the other hand, it might be that PR people realize that by inviting attack on Twitter Seaworld can say they addresed their critics openly while basically mooning the monkey cage for all the difference the hoots and cries generated on Twitter matter in the real world. Who goes to Twitter to find out anything important about SeaWorld? I saw their advertising, had a free day in San Diego and decided to go see the whales and dolphins. There's lot of other cool stuff there, too.
As for the abuse claims, I see these beasts as working for a living. A killer whale or a dolphin is fully capable of drowning and/or eating its tormentors if it has had enough foolishness that day. Some of the people coming out now against SeaWorld predictably enough have books to sell.
Watch Blackfish before you make up your mind on Seaworld.
I will never step foot in one of their torture parks because thats what they are doing, torturing one of our most majestic animals.
Does it ever work?
Let's find examples of it working, and let that encourage more companies to engage over twitter. Because the common thread here is these are all companies that deserve criticism.
I would submit that whatever gets people talking about the company or brand or candidate is all good, whether it's positive or negative.
No one reads through all the actual buzz. They just see "instances of #hashtag is TRENDING!"
What's more, the group's Facebook page is almost guaranteed to be a honeypot for all of the trolls against it. And if they're all happily trolling away at the group's Facebook or Twitter page, then they're likely sitting back smug thinking they've made a "difference" by airing their opinions and not actually out there harassing the group's actual customers or fanbase. Just paw through at any politician's Facebook page or comments on their posts, it's an endless stream of vile drivel. Does anyone who actually likes the candidate care or bother to read any of that? No!
My first-hand experience reading through that kind of thing occurred while contracting for MS Flight. "The killers of MSFS!", the fanboys would proudly proclaim, making personal threats against the manager in charge for trying to figure out how to get one of MS's first free-to-play model games to work (and also one of the first to transition from GfW Live to Steam). Meanwhile, the people who actually bothered to play the game for what is was... a gentle, accessible reboot of GA flight sims circa 1994, really seemed to enjoy the (limited) experiences it provided managed to play online mostly unharassed by any of the crowd spouting vitriol in the public forums. So it worked out pretty well (well, except for the part where the dev team got axed for the second time because they weren't making enough money from DLC). But it could have been worse! :P
most average people did not care at all about "killer whales" before Sea World started showing them in tanks with people apparently being as friendly and docile as the family dog.
Once they are no longer in tanks at parks (assuming the propagandists at both CNN, who aired Blackfish relentlessly, and the makers of Blackfish succeed) the public will likely go back to not thinking about orcas verty much and perhaps only seeing them as the carniverous consumers of those other "huggable and friendly" critters that remain in sea parks: Seals
Not all PR campaigns play-out over time as intended; particularly when anchored to the gripes of disgruntled former employees. Sea World may indeed lose out big in this effort, but I'd not bet on happy results for orcas decades from now when generations have NOT grown up going to Sea World and hugging Shamu plushtoys.
You're never going to defeat the armies of the basement-dwellers on their own turf. Pick another battlefield.
That's pretty funny. They also said gamergate would be dead in a week, this is month 7. How many grassroots campaigns last this long, while shrugging off the left-leaning media goes after them using fake claims of harassment.
Om, nomnomnom...
Putting social justice in scare quotes while blathering about moral authoritarians is amusing enough, but to do it while equivocating about your side's wilful invasion community spaces for the purposes of moral crusade? Classy.
Except it's accurate. You miss the attack against lionhead studios and their support for national cleavage day? Or how about their attacks against various types of dress? Of course, when they use exactly the same thing it's not 'sexist' anymore. Then again, we didn't start the invasion now did we. They did, when they decided they wanted to turn everything into a political pissing match and people said "enough."
Then again aGGro's are so small in number that they can't even trend a hashtag. There goes that myth that GG is 300 people.
Om, nomnomnom...
I don't have an account, but I follow the Twitter streams of a few creators (authors and game devs). The game devs use it to post quick updates and links to longer updates on their blogs, as well as announcements of things like Twitch.tv streams of them working and retweets of press/reviews. They also answer questions sometimes. This is how I expect companies to use Twitter. It gives a lightweight way for others to keep up with what the company is doing.
The authors I follow post some about their book releases and progress writing, but mostly they just tweet random stuff about what they're doing or photos they've taken. There's also a lot of conversations with their friends.
I find the anti-social media sentiment often expressed on Slashdot flabbergasting. People like to socialize. Some of them like doing it in venues where others can read and join in. The vast majority of people aren't affected by the witch hunts and other negative parts of Twitter so they don't mind them.
left-leaning media goes after them using fake claims of harassment.
Are you claiming Zoe Quinn was not harassed?
SJW n. One who posts facts.
You think people are that easily offended? I am triggered!!!
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Gamergate won't ever die as there will always be some people so offended when the inherent small-mindedness of gamers is called out, that they lash out like scalded toddlers at whatever they perceive is attacking them, proving the point of their accusers as they go. Wanting to be able to be sexist children is not a grassroots campaign, it's being sexist children. Calling it a grassroots campaign is hilarious.
But the only people that care are other losers also on Twitter. Being angry makes people feel good, but since the only people that care are other idiots, it's all rather pointless.
Actually GamerGate is a perfect example of what the GP is talking about. Aside from the people who committed actual crimes in support of GG, some number of people got sucked in to the rubbish about ethics in journalism and #NotYourSheild. If they tied their accounts to their real identities somehow when people google them they are going to see that they fell for that scam or worse actually condoned what was happening with full knowledge.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
The one reason I ever bother using Twitter is to communicate with companies with whom I have a problem. If I get bad service I write about it on Twitter. Having to do customer support in public usually encourages a faster, better response in my experience.
So far British Airways is the only one that has not responded well to tweets, although they did at least respond.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
You're never going to defeat the armies of the basement-dwellers on their own turf. Pick another battlefield.
That's pretty funny. They also said gamergate would be dead in a week, this is month 7. How many grassroots campaigns last this long, while shrugging off the left-leaning media goes after them using fake claims of harassment.
This is the first time I've heard of it in nearly two months. Even Slashdot and Cracked stopped posting stories about it weekly some time ago.
Someone should ask Bill Cosby if he liked the outcome of his "Make me a Meme" social media project.
Are you claiming Zoe Quinn was not harassed?
Are you claiming she was harassed by GamerGate?
Not even the FBI, who is conducting an investigation on GamerGate for months last I checked, has concluded that. What do you know that they don't?
I've asked dozens of times for said evidence of people who are pro-GG who've "committed crimes" I have yet to see it. I can however find easily plenty of vocal aGGro's who are active to this day who've actually broken laws, including anti-swatting laws. What I find funny is the comment is the second sentence, you've just come out saying that people can't make their own decisions. You realize how bigoted that is right?
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Are you claiming Zoe Quinn was not harassed?
Technically no. Neither was she doxed(she released the information herself), or had her nudes released(she did porn, and it's still available on their website). She also left the country on a per-arranged trip and tried to dish it up as a "this is what harassment has done to me..." type of crap. She did however, go after and harass wizardchan not once but at least twice. Tel me, how petty and low do you have to be to go after a bunch of overweight virgins who want to be left alone?
Once you get outside of what narrative they tried to push, and actually look into it yourself, you suddenly find that things don't actually match up. Reality is far different from the fiction presented.
Om, nomnomnom...
This is the first time I've heard of it in nearly two months. Even Slashdot and Cracked stopped posting stories about it weekly some time ago.
Cracked just finished namedropping gamergate a week ago, and the washington post did something similar a few days ago. It's still in the news, which should tell you something.
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Really? Let's look at their latest moral outrage over a 30 year old limerick that's been used up to this day. Now let's look at the pushback by people against the sjw mindset and narritive. Their narrative is, it's "transphobic" it's not, it actually caused murders(it didn't). If you're unwilling to protect your culture, then don't whine when someone turns around and tries to make it into something you wouldn't recognize. The rest of us however, have no desire to see an already and accepting culture turned into a pile of crap. Much like what they did to atheism, comic books, and the sci-fi/fantasy book genres.
Om, nomnomnom...
I've found it also good for real time updates. For example during recent snow storms, following the city and department of transport Twitter gives some insight into the status of the city. And they use it for two-way communication as well.
Other situations I've used it is twice watching parades when there was a huge gap in the middle. Jump on twitter and there's reports of why the parade stopped (medical emergency).
I've also used it when following a manhunt that had a city on lockdown. Closest to second by second updates. First there were reports from people listening to police scanner that the suspect was apprehended, and finally the police twitter confirmed. Long before any online news articles.
Gamergate won't ever die as there will always be some people so offended when the inherent small-mindedness of gamers is called out
What is hilarious is you using the word small-mindness to describe us. We want all types of games to be made because all of us play different types of games. We're not the ones that want games censored or banned if they don't fit our narrow minded views.
But you're right Gamergate won't die because we have spent the last ten years complaining about the industry and we will continue to do so because at this stage it has become as much as a hobby as gaming is.
Join the Boycott ! Orcas belong in oceans, not tiny tanks. Tell SeaWorld putting profit above animal welfare won't earn your support or patronage. Recently, Heart, Willie Nelson, and the Barenaked Ladies chose to cancel concerts at SeaWorld after viewing the Blackfish documentary. Stand with these entertainers by joining the boycott. Established in 1964, SeaWorld is an aquatic themed park which provides its visitors with close encounters with marine wildlife like belugas, dolphins, and orcas, also known as killer whales. According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, SeaWorld holds the vast majority of the world's captive orca whales which appear in shows. These performances are the current cornerstone of SeaWorld's entertainment model. Orcas are highly intelligent, social animals. In captivity, they are deprived of the interactions they would normally have within their pod family structure. They often have stunted lifespans and numerous health issues while being forced to perform behaviors and tricks they would never exhibit in the wild. These impressive animals are almost constantly in motion, can dive as deep as 195 feet, and travel as far as 100 miles in a day, a range which no tank or aquarium can offer. Deprivation of natural habitat and social bonds often causes the whales to display aggressive behaviors unheard of in the wild. SeaWorld's exploitative practices cannot be allowed to continue. Boycott SeaWorld until the company ends its policy of captivity for whales and other cetaceans. CyberSign the petition today!: http://therainforestsite.great...
The McLibel case shows the sort of PR Disaster that often results from trying to manage negative PR.
I have no idea what you just talked about so assume this is some Twitter thing. Suggest you switch off and come back to the real world.