Twitter gives people too much power

MrMerkinball

Long Story Short:

* Customer tries to get away without paying for service we provide
* When we demand payment, he threatens us using Social Media as a weapon
* We still demand payment, which he finally gives us
* He tweets to his 50,000+ followers false and damaging information about our business.
* We (the business) have absolutely no recourse

I wonder if he ever stopped to think - that if our business suffers as a reslut of his falsification, that people could lose their jobs.

Please consider the big picture when using Social Media.

Pontikas

You can sue the guy.

orig_long red

don't be a shitty business.

MrMerkinball

I don't think so. It would be very hard to prove we suffered as a direct result of his comments.

For Example - A hotel can't sue someone for making a bad review on Tripadvisor. Even if it is false - it is too late - the people who have read the review or the tweet have already filed that away in their brain - so to speak.

MrMerkinball

long red wrote:

don't be a shitty business.

I agree - it keeps business's honest....but when the claims are just untrue, that is simply wrong.

DeLukin

Cause lord knows big business wouldn't ever think about screwing over the little guy. Just because they now have a voice and the playing field is leveled a little don't cry foul. I'm not saying it can't be abused, but on the whole i think social media is a great tool for consumers or anyone else to share information about who is and isn't playing fair. Case in point: http://consumerist.com/

orig_long red

MrMerkinball wrote:

long red wrote:

don't be a shitty business.

I agree - it keeps business's honest....but when the claims are just untrue, that is simply wrong.

true. but i think overall, consumers and businesses benefit from such social networks. of course, liars and cheats will try to take advantage, but those incidents are probably isolated.

soulsinging

MrMerkinball wrote:

Long Story Short:

* Customer tries to get away without paying for service we provide
* When we demand payment, he threatens us using Social Media as a weapon
* We still demand payment, which he finally gives us
* He tweets to his 50,000+ followers false and damaging information about our business.
* We (the business) have absolutely no recourse

I wonder if he ever stopped to think - that if our business suffers as a reslut of his falsification, that people could lose their jobs.

Please consider the big picture when using Social Media.

who is the guy that he has 50,000 twitter followers?

i think twitter is the penultimate example of how fucked we are as a society. it is the pinnacle of self absorbed egomania that people shit their every thought out to the world at large.

South of Seattle

soulsinging wrote:

MrMerkinball wrote:

Long Story Short:

* Customer tries to get away without paying for service we provide
* When we demand payment, he threatens us using Social Media as a weapon
* We still demand payment, which he finally gives us
* He tweets to his 50,000+ followers false and damaging information about our business.
* We (the business) have absolutely no recourse

I wonder if he ever stopped to think - that if our business suffers as a reslut of his falsification, that people could lose their jobs.

Please consider the big picture when using Social Media.

who is the guy that he has 50,000 twitter followers?

i think twitter is the penultimate example of how fucked we are as a society. it is the pinnacle of self absorbed egomania that people shit their every thought out to the world at large.

Probably Perez Hilton

MrMerkinball

I agree that it is great for the consumer to finally have a say. I beleive fully in the power of word of mouth and that is why Excellent Service is such a passion of mine.

Internet Tools such as Tripadvisor, product ratings etc...are beautiful things.

My main point is: Having 50,000 people tuned into you, changes Twitter from an internet fad...to a very real social responsibility. People should be careful with it.

Jokertt14

u would have never got the money out of me and i would still twitter about your ass !! lol Woot !!

hinx

soulsinging wrote:

MrMerkinball wrote:

Long Story Short:

* Customer tries to get away without paying for service we provide
* When we demand payment, he threatens us using Social Media as a weapon
* We still demand payment, which he finally gives us
* He tweets to his 50,000+ followers false and damaging information about our business.
* We (the business) have absolutely no recourse

I wonder if he ever stopped to think - that if our business suffers as a reslut of his falsification, that people could lose their jobs.

Please consider the big picture when using Social Media.

who is the guy that he has 50,000 twitter followers?

i think twitter is the penultimate example of how fucked we are as a society. it is the pinnacle of self absorbed egomania that people shit their every thought out to the world at large.

YES.

Pontikas

"Company to Sue Over Apartment Renter's Rant on Twitter"


http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/company ... ter/320818

JaneNY

How frustrating. I have used your business many times and have always found the service to be impeccable.

I'd like to think that people take some of this with a grain of salt. I'm a smaaaaalll business owner, and there's always going to be a few nutjobs out there but if one consistently provides a good quality product, it is my hope that that overshadows the few bad customers and what they might say - and yes there ARE bad customers - not many, but they exist.

cincybearcat

MrMerkinball wrote:

Long Story Short:

* Customer tries to get away without paying for service we provide
* When we demand payment, he threatens us using Social Media as a weapon
* We still demand payment, which he finally gives us
* He tweets to his 50,000+ followers false and damaging information about our business.
* We (the business) have absolutely no recourse

I wonder if he ever stopped to think - that if our business suffers as a reslut of his falsification, that people could lose their jobs.

Please consider the big picture when using Social Media.

I'll never understand why:

1) People think everyone else should be so interested in their lives that they must tell them everything and update all the time.

2) People actually read this crap.

It's narcisism at it's finest...or worst.

cincybearcat

long red wrote:

don't be a shitty business.

don't be a shitty customer.

MrMerkinball

JaneNY wrote:

How frustrating. I have used your business many times and have always found the service to be impeccable.

I'd like to think that people take some of this with a grain of salt. I'm a smaaaaalll business owner, and there's always going to be a few nutjobs out there but if one consistently provides a good quality product, it is my hope that that overshadows the few bad customers and what they might say - and yes there ARE bad customers - not many, but they exist.

Much appreciated Jane.

CJMST3K

long red wrote:

don't be a shitty business.

This is simplistic. He was being blackmailed. Basically the "customer" was saying "give me free services, or else I will damage your business name to 50,000 people". They did not give in to the blackmailer, and the "customer" followed thru on his threat.

Bring him to court.

blackredyellow

soulsinging wrote:

i think twitter is the penultimate example of how fucked we are as a society. it is the pinnacle of self absorbed egomania that people shit their every thought out to the world at large.

totally agree... facebook can be the same way. I'm sure all of us who are on facebook have those few friends who put every single thing they do or every little drama in their lives in their status.

How fucking narcissistic and egotistical do you have to be to think that people care about what you had for dinner or that you had your living room carpet steam cleaned?

CJMST3K

MrMerkinball wrote:

I don't think so. It would be very hard to prove we suffered as a direct result of his comments.

For Example - A hotel can't sue someone for making a bad review on Tripadvisor. Even if it is false - it is too late - the people who have read the review or the tweet have already filed that away in their brain - so to speak.

Perhaps you can bring him to court and sue for $1, and an apology to your business to his followers that he threatened to blackmail your company if they did not give you his services for free.

I think a judge would find that very creative, and it would then also discredit the "customer" to his Twitter followers.

DeLukin

cincybearcat wrote:

I'll never understand why:

1) People think everyone else should be so interested in their lives that they must tell them everything and update all the time.

2) People actually read this crap.

It's narcisism at it's finest...or worst.

Yea, there's a lot of narcissism out there. I feel the same way about certain posts on this board, though. I've personally found twitter to be 70% crap, but every once in a while someone will post something that has some value (it's not ALL about narcissism). It's just one more way of gathering information. Social media in general has empowered the customer like no other, and I think that's a good thing. There are definitely people out there that will try to exploit that, but that's like saying all PJ fans are asshats because some complain about setlists. I think, overall, as a consumer it's good to have as much info as possible. As a business owner, you've got to be on your toes nowadays because bad word of mouth that travels at the speed of light can kill you.

rrivers

soulsinging wrote:

MrMerkinball wrote:

Long Story Short:

* Customer tries to get away without paying for service we provide
* When we demand payment, he threatens us using Social Media as a weapon
* We still demand payment, which he finally gives us
* He tweets to his 50,000+ followers false and damaging information about our business.
* We (the business) have absolutely no recourse

I wonder if he ever stopped to think - that if our business suffers as a reslut of his falsification, that people could lose their jobs.

Please consider the big picture when using Social Media.

who is the guy that he has 50,000 twitter followers?

i think twitter is the penultimate example of how fucked we are as a society. it is the pinnacle of self absorbed egomania that people shit their every thought out to the world at large.

Well said

soulsinging

JaneNY wrote:

How frustrating. I have used your business many times and have always found the service to be impeccable.

I'd like to think that people take some of this with a grain of salt. I'm a smaaaaalll business owner, and there's always going to be a few nutjobs out there but if one consistently provides a good quality product, it is my hope that that overshadows the few bad customers and what they might say - and yes there ARE bad customers - not many, but they exist.

Having worked in a restaurant, I'd say there are a LOT of bad customers. Most humans are pretty worthless.

DeLukin

JaneNY wrote:

if one consistently provides a good quality product, it is my hope that that overshadows the few bad customers and what they might say

Exactly. You'd hope that the nut jobs would be obvious (and they usually are). If it's an isolated incident you have nothing to worry about.

decides2dream

cincybearcat wrote:

I'll never understand why:

1) People think everyone else should be so interested in their lives that they must tell them everything and update all the time.

2) People actually read this crap.

It's narcisism at it's finest...or worst.

haha....seriously.
yes
tho i must admit, i have never even looked at twitter. i don't really go for blogs either - tho there i will admit, there have been a few i've read/been interested it - but overall, just not something i'd do regularly. same with facebook, myspace, etc....tho i DO see advantages in keeping in touch (i may just break down one day, who knows?). i guess i simply am not interested in too many people. that or i just don't care. or both. or sure.....just send me an email!