Anyone who has ever bashed out a drunken Facebook status they regretted the next morning, or blogged of their love of a certain brand of cringe-worthy music during a wayward time in their youth, might be relieved to hear that the chief executive of Google thinks that (more…)
German airline risks wrath of Twitter over cancellations
Germany’s flag carrier Lufthansa experienced some bad press on social media sites as it cancelled most of its flights on Monday April 22, due to ground crews taking action.
Usually, the airline has over 1,700 flights scheduled each day; Monday, saw this drop to a handful. Flights to UK airports including London, Birmingham and Manchester were affected.
Reputation management
It is the second month in a row that strike action has affected the airline. There are also four further walkouts already planned. Protests were seen here in the UK, with many staff blaming the tie-up with British Airways for the difficulties faced by the Spanish flag carrier.
With rising fuel prices, increased environmental taxation, and higher levels of competition, the flight industry is facing significant challenges.
In this connected world, there were a number of people taking to Twitter to complain. After the initial backlash, users began to demand more information on possible future strikes, and some even sang the praises of other carriers such as Austrian Airlines for coming to their rescue. Some users also tellingly commented that repeat strike action was making the airline less competitive.
It is no easy task working in reputation management for an airline at the moment.
Free alternatives
A dedicated approach is needed, which is why outsourcing such tasks would be a natural response.
Lufthansa do clearly know what they are doing though. Messages about the action, which is a so called ‘warning strike’, appeared as early as Sunday morning.
Passengers are also being offered free alternatives and other incentives at the airports.
In Germany, such strike tactics are common; with only a short period of time to organise a response.
Oil barons attempt slick reputation management
The oil-rich state of Bayelsa in Nigeria has launched a reputation management campaign following rumours that the ruling governor’s administration had been deposed.
However, the campaign, which involves a series of large advertising hoardings has been criticised in some quarters.
Just say no
The adverts, placed on billboards throughout the state, urge (more…)
Samsung investigated for planting bad HTC reviews
Taiwanese fair-trade officers are investigating electronics giant Samsung, over claims that it has been paying students to create negative reviews of rival phones.
The allegations suggest the company, which is based in South Korea, has been engaging in so called ‘false advertising’.
Smearing the competition in this manner is an acknowledged ‘black hat’ search engine optimisation tactic, and is frowned upon by (more…)
Techspeak damages understanding of English grammar
A recent study conducted by researchers at Northwestern University, Illinois, has discovered that students who regularly use techspeak will have a poor concept of the correct use of English grammar. This includes the standard of punctuation and spelling, and the use of emoticons. A survey was carried out on 228 students from across the east coast, from sixth to eighth grade middle school. The aim was to discover the link between (more…)
Daybees competes with Google for event search
A new website has been launched in the UK, named Daybees. The site, which was introduced in March 2013 claims to be “the world’s largest events search engine” and holds details of over 1.5 million events on its database. Daybees is a speciality search engine, aiming to make an impression in (more…)
UK’s first youth police commissioner quits over Twitter row
An escalating row over a series of teenage tweets posted by the UK’s first ever youth police and crime commissioner (PCC) has seen her leave her £15,000 a year role.
Paris Brown, 17, had already apologised about the potentially offensive and inflammatory comments.Before quitting, Brown, from Sheerness in Kent said: (more…)
