Social Media Case Reflection #1

In light of the Kilroy's Bar & Grill customer reaction to being (arguably) mistreated as she was trying to pay her $700+ bill while someone was dying from a heart attack, this blogpost will focus on three different concepts that stood out to me while reading articles about the viral facebook feed.

1: Let's first talk about the customer's reaction. Where it is now common for people to use their various social media profiles to rant, this particular customer even thought that is was appropriate to rant about the poor service she felt she received on the facebook page of the actual business. I thought this was interesting because I want to know what her goal was in doing this. Was she looking for a response from management, possibly hoping to get a discount on another meal? Was she wanting to warn other customers (even after she establishes that this place had long been a part of her New Years tradition) about the horrible service? As a frequent customer I would think she would want to talk to management specifically about the one waitress that "ruined" her experience because clearly it had not been that way in the past. Moreover, the language that she used was so offensive and clearly privileged. Even if the person that, at the time, was thought to be dead was a "junkie" she still shouldn't have blamed the staff nor the establishment for "allowing them in." The reason why this post probably went so viral was because people recognized that this customer (I like the reasons why  IndyStar didn't include her name so I will do the same, see article here) clearly had no regarrd or respect for a human life at all. If she did she would have understood that the staff and everyone else in the bar would have been very sad, or heartbroken for whoever was being wheeled out. It was a traumatic scene for everyone to witness but just because her waitress didn't respond to her quickly and kindly this ill person was an "inconvenience" to her night. It was her right and freedom to post, however it was in a public space and she should have recognized the risk of putting such an insensitive post on facebook.

2: Now let's look at the response from a gentlemen in management of the bar. Just as the customer had a right to post in the public sphere, this manager did as well. However, instead of his own personal reputation to risk, he was also risking the reputation of Kilroy's. Luckily his post ended up gaining support and boosting support for his business. It was risky. I think that the passive aggressive response while 100% justified was not the most professional response. The response did show that the company had it best interests for itself and its customers at heart. It cleared up what could have been taken other ways by people reading the post. According to a Forbes article, ideal social media presence has been changing for businesses versus what businesses have been using social media for in the past. The manager in his response showed exactly what the article lists, showing the brand culture, responding quickly, respecting the audience, and many more things could be assumed about the management and the establishment. All in my opinion were really good things. I think that his reponse also empowered many other business owners to consider situations and maybe question the common phrase "the customer is always right" because in this case the customer wasn't and the business gained benefits by not bowing down and agreeing with the customer as most people would.

3: Lastly I think it is important to talk about the response of people who saw the viral post. The cruel responses and near vigilante justice that some people were trying to serve was almost ironic. The customer with the response faced death threats, harassment, and even potentially lost her job because people saw her name and hunted her down. This is phenomenon of people cruelly responding and "putting people in their place" is something fairly new due to social media. Often talked about as something that occurs because of the lack of face to face interaction there could be a disconnect that allow people to say more offensive and cruel things. However sadly, this women's reputation was completly ruined along with any poor person who shared her same name in the area (see Huffington Post article). While the post was awful and ridiculous it does not justify the actions that were taken against her and others with the same name. One rant on facebook should not ruin the quality of life that someone can live after expressing their thoughts and feelings through freedom of speech. I think that is should have just stayed within the realm of the facebook page and that others should not have became involved in telling this women off in just as cruel rants about her as she wrote about the dying person.

Overall, I think that this case could start a lot of important discussions and questions about the social media and business and what proper responses to situations like these should look like.