Top Social Media Blunders of 2010

With Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg named TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year and Twitter nearing 200 million accounts, 2010 may go down as the year social media truly made a cultural breakthrough. For some companies, however, 2010 will more likely be remembered as the year social media blew up in their faces. Here are some of the biggest social-media missteps from last year.

Nestlé: The Chocolate War
Wary of criticism from environmental groups, Nestlé brusquely announced in March that the company’s Facebook page was exclusively for Nestlé fans, and abusive posts or posts including altered versions of the company’s logo (a favored tactic among Nestlé critics) would be deleted and repeat offenders banned. Critics of the confectioner’s selective approach to customer engagement became Facebook "fans" by the thousands and filled the page with insults. When company representatives responded with snide comments of their own, the firestorm went viral, forcing Nestlé into a public apology.

Boeing: Flying Blind
Like many 8-year-old boys, Harry Winsor of Boulder, CO, loves airplanes. Last May, Harry sent Boeing a crayon drawing of an innovative design – an aircraft outfitted with airborne firefighting capabilities. In response, Harry received from Boeing a form letter explaining that the company does not accept unsolicited ideas. Disappointed, Harry’s dad used his blog and Twitter account to decry the company’s tone-deaf response. Others soon joined the online chorus until company representatives admitted – via Twitter – that they were still learning to pilot the social-media airspace. Harry received a personal apology and a free tour of Seattle’s Museum of Flight. (No word yet on when the sky firefighter goes into production.)

Southwest Airlines: A Weighty Issue
Last year, Southwest Airlines learned that in the social-media era, there are few forces more powerful than a scorned celebrity. When Southwest employees told Chasing Amy and Mallrats director Kevin Smith that he was too large to fit into a single coach seat and removed him from an Oakland-to-Burbank flight, the Hollywood heavyweight flew off the handle – and straight to Twitter. After Smith posted several profanity-laced tweets, Southwest apologized and offered him a $100 voucher, which the director refused. Smith has since vowed never to fly Southwest again (and dedicated 24 separate YouTube videos to the incident).

BP: That’s Oil, Folks!
It’s shocking that BP waited a full month after oil started gushing into the Gulf of Mexico to launch an online PR campaign. But by then, a parody Twitter page (@BPGlobalPR) had already racked up more than 100,000 followers. Meanwhile, the company’s official Facebook page was being dwarfed in popularity by pages dedicated to lambasting it. Combined with similar fails in traditional PR efforts (remember BP CEO Tony Hayward saying, "I want my life back"?), BP’s ham-fisted approach to social media reinforced the widespread impression of a company more concerned with minimizing damage to its reputation than damage to the people and wildlife of the Gulf.

So why do some companies flunk social media so spectacularly? Mostly because of a lack of forethought, says social-media strategist Barbara Giamanco, coauthor of The New Handshake: Sales Meets Social Media. Companies tend to jump online too quickly without determining what they want to accomplish or how to manage responses and criticism. With a plan in place, a company is more likely to see the silver lining in a cloud of complaints.

"The folks who are complaining give us a hint of what we can do to improve products and services," she says. "It might be a little painful, but it can be positive to get that negative feedback, because then you know what the market’s thinking about you, and you can leverage it and maybe do something about it if you choose."