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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Social media viruses – and how to fight them

The Internet has made it possible for anyone to share thoughts, ideas and opinions with the entire world. But with this freedom to share information comes the potential for these thoughts and ideas to significantly damage individuals’ and companies’ reputations.

Case in point: Two employees from an individually owned Domino’s store shot and shared a video online that showed them tampering with customers’ food (to put it mildly). The video was supposedly a prank, but instead it created a social media frenzy.

Domino’s corporate headquarters immediately sprang into action, working to remove the video wherever possible and respond to the situation – including answering inquiries from bloggers and traditional media and reassuring its customers that its food is safe. Domino’s reaction was strategic and fast, and may have minimized the damage from the viral video.

To learn more about how Domino's responded to this crisis - click here.

AN UPDATE
To learn more about what happened to the people who created the video and the company's response - click here.