In the last three or four days we have seen events occur in London and then across the country unlike any we have ever seen. Looting and damage indiscriminately done by people who had no other objective than to take what wasn’t rightly theirs and cause as much disturbance as possible.
So what can we learn as a business from these events? For me it is the impact social media has and will continue to play within the communication structure.
Let me explain. The riots couldn’t have been as destructive as they were if it wasn’t for blackberry BBM messaging and twitter being used to help spread information and help organise and locate others who wished to join in the mayhem. If these apps hadn’t existed then people wouldn’t have been able to communicate easily and freely with each other to meet and congregate.
Facebook images and YouTube videos were then seen to make the whole looting process ‘cool’ with people showing off what they had or were doing, hence encouraging others to join in. Add to that the whole video imagery from mobile phones and suddenly you had almost real time communication being produced by individuals and uploaded so others could see.
However within a day the tables had turned. There was an almost ‘anything you can do’ thought spread through the population. Clean up websites, twitter areas and Facebook pages sprung up overnight. Within two days @riotcleanup a twitter page had 87,521 followers IN TWO DAYS! The page helped co-ordinate volunteers and shopkeepers to come together and within a day clean up most of the mess. The atmosphere by all accounts was wonderful with a real sense of camaraderie and people realising that they didn’t need to fear. Videos sprung up on YouTube showing this unity within the community and getting over 2000 views.
On Tuesday night local groups sprung up in Southall, Enfield, Eltham and Palmers Green to defend the areas, without violence just their presence. Twittering about small groups protecting areas started to draw others to join in. Motivating and showing that on mass, good hard working individuals outnumber the mindless.
My point is this.
If social media can do produce, good and bad communication which can then create good and bad for society, what can it do for your business? There are millions of conversations, images and videos being produced daily that you have no control over, cant delete or possibly don’t even know exist that could be about your business, company or even you.
For me the whole riot issue has simply highlighted:
1. How powerful social media is and will become within the marketing structure.
2. How it isn’t going to go away and has forever changed the way we communicate.
3. That as a business you need to be aware and wary of it in the same breath.
Good service/product, good reviews. Bad service……..well you possibly will never know!
