1. A Short History of Social Media Screw Ups Presents

2. This is a short history of how social media transported PR, marketing, advertising and corporate communication out of the stone age. There was a time when companies still controlled their message to the public.

3. September 2004 A Kryptonite lock is picked apart by a blogger with a Bic pen. First blogs, then the New York Times amplify the feat as the company fails to respond. Social Relevance: Viral effect costs $15 million in product recalls.

4. June 2005 L’Oreal is skinned alive by the first big fake blog fiasco Social Relevance: The first demonstration that flashy advertising values don’t work in social media.

5. August 2005 Jeff Jarvis invents “angry blogger slams customer service syndrome”. Hundreds of others blog about similar shoddy Dell customer service. Social Relevance: Dell is one of the first companies to learn that, in social media, you ignore your customers at your peril.

6. April 2006 Chevy’s Design your own Tahoe competition loses its big end to crowdsourced complaints. Social Relevance: A big brand learns first-hand it has no control when it comes to social media marketing.

7. June 2006 Dell’s reputation goes up in smoke after leading tech blog Gizmodo publishes photo of exploding laptop. Social Relevance: The power of a single image that spreads online. Dell forced to recall more than 4 million laptop batteries.

8. June 2006 Diet Coke and Mentos – Who knew? This was one of the first YouTube memes, copied numerous times and with millions of views. Social Relevance: Coca-Cola hated it and complained but later came to embrace social media. “Our consumers control our brand” became its mantra.

9. June 2006 Asleep at the wheel: Comcast technician becomes poster child for poor customer service. 1.3 million view the video. Social Relevance: Comcast humiliation caused a change in priorities. Soon becomes industry leader in Twitter customer service help.

10. August 2006 Starbucks is hit by a satirical attack on the price of Frappucinos as it fights accusations of unfairly treating Ethiopian coffee workers. Social Relevance: Videos like this highlighted Starbucks was losing touch with customers. Starbucks decides to make social media a priority.

11. Folksy “Isn’t Wal-Mart great” travel blog “Wal-Marting Across America” hits a reputation pot-hole when unmasked as being paid for by company. Social Relevance: Black eye for Wal-Mart amid accusations that it was trying to shift attention away from criticism of its labor practices. October 2006

12. December 2006 Sony sets new low standard for fake blogs with “All I want for Xmas is a PSP”. They even made a memorable video, now infamous. Social Relevance: Digital egg on face. PSP fans are outraged at being patronised. Sony issues social media mea culpa and pulls campaign.

13. January 2007 Valentine’s Day: Jet Blue passengers are stranded for up to 8 hours on runway. They film and blog their ordeal. Social Relevance: Jet Blue understood how its reputation was being hurt online and so CEO David Neelman quickly crafted a YouTube apology.

14. February 2007 Taco Bell suffers the ultimate PR horror, rats taking over one of its Manhattan chains. And a local TV news crew was there to document it. Social Relevance: Rodents in the kitchen making local news isn’t exactly new. But 1.2 million views on YouTube? That’s global embarrassment and one still viewed.

15. March 2007 Greenpeace “punks” a Kleenex TV ad to protest Kimberly-Clark’s clear-cutting of ancient Boreal forests. Social Relevance: A 5-year campaign really took off once Greenpeace made its message social. In 2009, Kimberly-Clark changed its sourcing policies.

16. November 2007 Molson’s first Facebook campaign backfired. Who could guess “Show everyone how you and your crew get the party started!” would encourage photos of binge drinking? Social Relevance: Be careful what you ask for when associating your brand with unfettered Facebook content. A sobering lesson for a brewer.

17. February 2008 GM, fast on the heels of its pioneering Fastlane Blog, launches a social network site, GMNext. Its “green” section is pilloried by green activists. Social Relevance: Caught in the headlights of consumer ire, GM smartly decides to engage its critics admitting some problems and responding on blogs and forums.

18. April 2008 Unilever’s Dove brand finds itself on the receiving end of an aggressive Greenpeace social media campaign against palm oil-driven deforestation. Social Relevance: Greenpeace, understanding the power of compelling, shareable content uses YouTube to stoke consumer ire against the largest palm oil buyer.

19. June 2008 JCPenney’s “Speed Dressing” ad wins a Bronze Lion at Cannes. Just one problem: Neither the retailer or its ad agency claims to know anything about it. Social Relevance: In social media, content never dies. When the makers of the faux ad put it online and JCPenney disowned it, Speed Dressing’s fame was bound to grow.

20. August 2008 ExxonMobil isn’t known for its social media chops. Hence the surprise to see it start a Twitter feed. Especially as the oil giant knew nothing about it. Social Relevance: In one of the first cases of Twitter-squatting, “Janet” showed one of the world’s biggest companies that it couldn’t ignore social media.

21. November 2008 Motrin’s sassy commercial aimed at Moms backfires spectacularly after a Twitter-army of motherly discontent swarms. Johnson & Johnson apologies. Social Relevance: A small group of influential Tweeters uses the social media megaphone to noisy effect. Twitter, it seems, really can give you a headache.

22. February 2009 The last straw: PepsiCo’s Tropicana rebranding gets pulped following an outraged online reaction by its traditional fan base. Social Relevance: Beware the focus group. PepsiCo’s research hadn’t anticipated the level of anger coming from its most loyal customers. The fiasco cost $35 million.

23. February 2009 Skittles embraces social media by ceding control of its site to customer chatter. Talk about making a hashtag out it as the air turns blue with obscenities. Social Relevance: Social media “experts’ preach “Be where your customer is”. But that doesn’t mean you should give up your brand identity. A bold social media FAIL.

24. February 2009 Target shoots itself in the foot when it refuses to talk to a blogger because it claims Target customers don’t read blogs. Social Relevance: Who has influence in today’s social media world? Target took a very old-school view of things but forgot that the MSM didn’t share its outlook.

25. February 2009 Louis Vuitton threatened to sue the young designer who created this Darfur charity T-shirt claiming IP infringement. Blogs and Facebook had a field day. Social Relevance: In the old days, aggressive lawyering might have been a deterrent. In today’s social media goldfish bowl it looks like corporate bullying.

26. April 2009 In the wake of an employee gross-out video that spread virally on YouTube, Domino’s USA president takes a leaf out of JetBlue’s book and issues a social media apology. Social Relevance: Once crisis comms was handled by press releases and carefully co-ordinated TV interviews. Now the discourse plays out online in real time.

27. June 2009 Habitat seemed to be getting the hang of the Twitter thing– until it was caught promoting new products using hashtag spam, including the Iranian election. Social Relevance: Twitter may be a new medium but you shouldn’t relinquish control of your corporate communication to “an over enthusiastic intern”. #FAIL!

28. August 2009 Dooce blogger Heather Armstrong couldn’t get Maytag to fix her washing machine. She groused on Twitter to her 1m+ followers. Maytag rapidly dispatched a repairman. Social Relevance: Armstrong’s Twitter clout was far more influential than Maytag’s own social media presence. A case of supposed corporate power turned on its head.

29. July 2009 United Airlines handles hundreds of lost and damaged baggage complaints each year. But aggrieved Dave Carroll went viral with his ballad of a broken guitar. Social Relevance: United had 9 months to placate Carroll before he penned his protest song. Instead they were confronted with a backlash millions empathised with.

30. October 2009 From the Dept. of “It seemed a good idea at the time.” PepsiCo quickly pulled this AMP iPhone app aimed at young guys after it was lambasted on Twitter as sexist. Social Relevance: The desire for social media to magically connect with the youth audience is fraught with danger for brands. This idea didn’t get to first base.

31. Another month, another twitter fiasco. This time it’s a rogue homophobic employee. Social Relevance: Social media is often delegated to junior employees because they “get it”. Doesn’t mean they can understand how to protect a company’s reputation. February 2010

32. Southwest Air’s “Customer of Size” policy receives a high-profile roasting when the airline targets director Kevin Smith and he tweets his experiences. Social Relevance: Forcing obese passengers to buy an extra ticket had taken a back seat on the news agenda until Smith’s tweet to millions hit the headlines. February 2010

33. British retailer Paperchase gets hammered by an artist who claims in her blog that the company has plagiarised her work, and rebuffed her offline complaints. Social Relevance: Unlike many big corporates, Paperchase had no social media presence prior to this attack. Social media swarms can hit mid-level companies too. February 2010

34. Greenpeace targeted Nestle but only when activists besieged Nestle’s Facebook page and the company got aggressive and deleted posts did it become a global story. Social Relevance: Nestle’s inept social media community management made it look like an arrogant, tin- eared corporate to the public. Just what Greenpeace wanted. February 2010

35. May 2010 8-year old kid sends cute crayon plane design to Boeing. Company responds with standard impersonal rejection letter. Kid’s father blogs it. Boeing apologises. Social Relevance: Boeing isn’t used to dealing directly with the public but nevertheless the age of replying with automated letters must surely be over.

36. June 2010 BP spills millions of barrels of the oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Finds its online PR response clogged by Facebook outrage and a fake, hilarious Twitter account. Social Relevance: While BP spent £93m on ads, social media kept the pressure on. 350 “Boycott BP” Facebook groups formed and 188,000 followed fake @BPGlobalPR.

37. June 2010 Environmental activists train their sights on Facebook itself with protest FB groups mobilising over the company’s plans to build a new, coal-powered data centre. Social Relevance: As seen with the backlash over its privacy conditions, Facebook may be a social media leader but it continues to struggle with its own reputation.

38. June 2010 Proctor & Gamble faces Mommy blogger groundswell over claims that Dry Max diapers cause rash and blistering. Social media storm prompts lawsuits and safety inquiries. Social Relevance: Pampers engages with social media, invites influential bloggers to P&G HQ where experts address concerns. Product safety inquiry finds no link to rash.

39. September 2010 McDonald’s wasn’t overly concerned by this local TV ad made by a community nutrition group linking its burgers to heart disease. That’s before they took it to YouTube. Social Relevance: YouTube continues to make local issues global when they resonate with worldwide audience. It’s already been viewed nearly 900,000 times.

40. September 2010 Greenpeace is using Hollywood’s playbook with its sequel strategy of shaming multinationals out of using Sinar Mas palm oil. This time Burger King capitulates. Social Relevance: In just 12 months Facebook has become a crucial communication channel for major brands, making them more accountable than ever to customer feedback.

41. To be continued… Have we missed any great examples? Let us know @socialinfluence

42. This presentation was created for SMI by: www.customcommunication.co.uk

43. News and Analysis Training and Consultancy Special Reports The Social Media Influence Conference www.socialmediainfluence.com @socialinfluence