Social Media and Corporate Image

Let’s talk about social media damaging a corporation’s image. This past week I heard a shocking story about a Jetstar employee requesting a young passenger on a plane. Check out the article in the Sydney Morning Herald, . Last week my blog focused on social media and the impact it can have on an individual’s career, now I am focusing my attention on the impact an individual employees social networking can have on a company. Obviously the employee should not have went out of his way to look up a passengers information and contact them outside of the airport, what makes matters even worse is the age of the young passenger. What could Jetstar have done to prevent this behavior of one employee from impacting their reputation? I think that companies are going to need to have a social media/privacy clause in their employee contracts now that social media is here to stay.

This is an interesting and relevant article on who owns a company’s social media
, it raises all sorts of questions, when a social media strategist is hired at a company do they own the fans/followers or does the CEO. Often a social media consultant will be hired due to their popularity and following on their own personal sites/blogs/twitter. Who should decide what goes onto companies social media sites? It makes sense for public relations people to be in charge of social media because it functions as a microphone for a company, it is equally and sometimes more important than “traditional” media when it comes to reputation because it is so easy for anyone to instantly update or tweet and damage a reputation.
In the end reputation can be enhanced or ruined though social media.