Do you remember the first time you signed up on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram? Your aim was to find your school mates, play games, share a few photographs and have a little bit of fun. I guess their founders had the same objectives in their minds at the outset. However, the business expanded so much in such a short period of time that it became a place that turned beneficiaries into billionaires where brands introduced themselves and people spent huge amount of time. It reached a point where not the journalists but people scooped the news and to which people referred in order to learn what was going on anywhere around the world.
We are sharing but...
The concept of “freedom” of the social media has been discussed for a long time. What can people do while expressing their opinions? Can social media platforms get involved or disclose personal information of a person? This discussion may last for days if not for months. It is not so easy to reach an absolute judgment in this regard. However, there is a reason for this discussion to heat up recently: Racism...
Anti-racism action, which started in the United States and spread across the entire Europe under #BlackLivesMatter movement made it to the top of the agenda of the world. Big brands that could not keep silent on the matter shared black screen on their pages. But the backlash did not stop here...
#StopHateforProfit
A new campaign started in the leadership of Color of Change, Mozilla, and Anti-Defamation League. Claiming that Facebook, the acceptor of the campaign, remained unresponsive against hate speech for years, the organizations called for the brands to stop advertising. They stated that if the platform, which gains 99% of its income from advertisements, wanted to make money, they should not remain silent on the matter.
This movement grew rapidly. The North Face, Coca Cola, Unilever, Ben&Jerry’s, Starbucks, Ford and Adidas decided to stop their Facebook advertisement which meant millions of dollars of loss for Facebook.
What Happens Now?
No one actually knows what will happen now. The common view is that Facebook should take a decision in this direction and intervene in hate speech. Money is not the only issue here but the pressure they feel upon themselves. Hate speech and racism, which the whole world is against to “in theory” allows us to foresee that it won’t take long for Facebook to take a decision.
However, the exact opposite of this may also happen. Deeming that it is destroying the boundaries of “freedom”, the platform may not carry out any intervention at all. Albeit a small probability, what kind of reaction do you think it would get if it did so?
What should you do?
Let’s consider what you should do in this case. An ongoing crisis is available in the world right now and all the actions we take in this situation shows where you stand in reality. We are not asking you to stop advertising. We are only asking where your organization stood in such cases. This is the real issue here. Welcome to crisis management!
When a crisis pops up, you can hold hours of meetings, take everyone’s opinions but get delayed while doing that. For a successful crisis management, first of all you need to foresee the possible events to happen and determine what attitude you will exhibit towards them. You know about the situations related to your services. What about social factors? You need to determine where you will stand and what kind of attitude you will develop with regard to racism, LGBTI+, gender and religion. In this way, you wouldn’t be dragged around trends and reactions or be delayed or contradict with each other.
A brand management is not confined only to making more sales and gain recognition but is also related to how close you are to the people who facilitate these and how much you touch them. The more professional stand you take the more successful you become. For this reason, do not neglect to get professional counseling and set a standard for your company
Written by: Tuba Kiraz