Weekly Fail Whale: Something that Social Media should NOT be used for…..A Pink Slip.

The weekly fail whale is something new to Geary Fresh.  We will be posting a poor use of social media/marketing/general existence/did they really once a week.  A company or person will receive the honor of being the “Fail Whale” of the week.  We will also give some suggestions to ways that the winner could have handled the situation in a better manner
Our first “Fail Whale” honoree: Tesla Motors.

What they Did wrong:

Electric automaker Tesla recently announced the layoff of 90% of its Detroit office through….a BLOG post.  The blog post states “there will be some headcount reduction due to consolidation of operations” and also informs that the Detroit office will be closing.  The brand new HQ in San Jose will remain open and the 10% that did not loose their jobs will be allowed to relocate and work there.  Which makes sense because the cost of living in San Jose is extremely comparable to Detroit?

What they should have known:

Social media is about communication, connection and relationship building.  Using it as the first communication of a sad occurrence like this does not fit the bill of proper uses.  Maybe Tesla will take the stance that the economy and their “green” nature forced them to communicate this news through a public online portal versus an actual pink slip.

What they could have done better:

We would suggest that a company never use a public forum as a way to announce a lay off/closure before they address the employees.  If a personal session by the company (be it in person or in a webcast) cannot happen an email is still a widely accepted form of business communication that is private.  Addressing the employees in this manner will help to support internal morale (as much as possible in a lay off) and also work to minimize Online Reputation Management issues.

Oh, the tangled web Facebook weaves

Social networking site Facebook is quickly becoming a common source of skirmishes. First, the site drew ire for its Beacon program; now, it’s getting flak as more and more users discover it’s ridiculously hard to permanently delete their accounts.

In the past, disenchanted Facebook users had only a deactivation option - an option that included Facebook servers keeping copies of their personal information. A difficult, little-known manual deletion option was also available.

Nipon Das, a business consultant in Manhattan, became the de facto face of a movement demanding that Facebook make it easier to delete accounts. He spent two months trying to delete his account, and in the meantime, continued to receive messages and alerts from the site. A groundswell of support grew, and a Facebook group entitled “How to permanently delete your Facebook account” has grown to include nearly 10,000 members.

In response to the complaints, Facebook updated their Help pags to announce that the easiest way to delete your account is to email the company and make your wishes clear. They announced that they have no plans to introduce a one-step delete account option.

Facebook users are calling for a simple, manual Delete option, and it’s a reasonable request. Users should not have to hunt for instructions on how to permanently delete their account and all their personal information. Good customer service extends to people who want to discontinue using your site, and making is difficult for people to delete their accounts is not the way to help them leave Facebook with fond memories.

Obviously, Facebook has a stake in retaining users and the personal information they provide to the site. But at some point, they need to consider the desires of their users. It’s extremely common for Internet users to pare down the number of social networking sites they use, or to give up online social networking entirely. And as Web users have the expectation that they can quite sites as easily as they can join them, Facebook needs to get with the program.

UPS Advertising Campaign

What can brown do for you? Oh wait, this is the new $35,000,000 UPS advertising campaign “Whiteboard”. The new UPS ad campaign by The Martin Agency, in Richmond, VA has a great concept, quality execution, energizing music (”Such Great Heights” by the Postal Service), but gets old quick. These ads seemed tired even before we made it to their slow loading promotional website. Maybe there will be a followup campaign or a new character to freshen things up.

On Toyota’s mind.

Nice design, but this site is a strikingly similar concept to Adobe’s The Creative Mind. I wonder what came first, or did two agencies have the same idea at the same time? Will we ever know?
On Toyota’s mind.