Of the macro social news sites, Reddit has easily become my favorite over the past 4 years or so. The community, unlike Digg, gets close to a true model of\u00a0diversity, aggregation and incentives: the three elements that come together to create social scientist Scott Page\u2019s diversity prediction theorem.<\/p>\n
Reddit has a\u00a0subreddit\u00a0that is quite popular\u00a0called IAmA\u00a0(which = I Am A) where someone starts a thread, noting who they are and invites the community to\u00a0\u00a0AMA (which = Ask Me Anything). It\u2019s a very popular section having more than 280,000 subscribers at the time of creating this post.<\/p>\n
Obviously Reddit has influence, but this section in particular is well-respected by the web community as a whole. To the point there have been IAmA\u2019s by everyone from a\u00a0Marine One Crew Chief\u00a0who flew several presidents, to 74-time winning\u00a0Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings\u00a0and pretty much anything you can imagine in between.<\/p>\n
While some very large companies really\u00a0mess up\u00a0the opportunity of building a relationship with web communities like Reddit, you still have to applaud the fact that they\u2019re even trying. Which brings us to today\u2019s example of something I recently witnessed over at Reddit but wanted to share here.<\/p>\n
What happened is an employee from McDonald\u2019s started an IAmA, titled:\u00a0I Am A 5 Year McDonald\u2019s Employee. FML AMA. The cool part about IAmA is the Reddit community has allowed users to not just post anonymously, but also confirm who they are. In this particular thread, the user did complete that process, confirming their employment at McDonald\u2019s.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s worth reading through the questions and answers as it is a fascinating inside view of this consumer brand. But I was left scratching my head, because nowhere in the thread of 3,700+ comments was any hint that McDonald\u2019s decided to input to the discussion, correct any of the misguided facts, note what might be specific to that one location (but not across the brand) or even\u00a0acknowledge and take ownership on some issues (like \u201cwe totally understand this is an issue and we\u2019re working on that\u201d). It\u2019s not so much that I even want them to take\u00a0a particular response approach. It\u2019s their total absence that is glaring.<\/p>\n
There is no way a company that large isn\u2019t listening to discussions about their brand. Especially ones shared with 280,000+ people on a site made up of influential, well-connected users. I wanted to know more, so like any good blogger I sent a\u00a0quick Tweet\u00a0to @McDonalds asking for\u00a0some<\/em>\u00a0type of response. And silence, yet their\u00a0Twitter bio\u00a0does set expectation they\u00a0are<\/em>\u00a0listening, by stating (emphasis mine):<\/p>\n Welcome to the Official McDonald\u2019s USA Twitter page!\u00a0We\u2019re here to listen\u00a0<\/strong>and learn from all of our fans and followers. Check out the link to meet our team.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In fact, McDonalds even started following me shortly after, so they definitely read my Tweet. If they are participating in one community such as Twitter they are a part of the larger community of the web. Social media doesn\u2019t happen in silos. Also, coincidentally enough, a \u201ckey McDonald\u2019s executive\u201d had\u00a0previously submitted an IAmA\u00a0(although this one was never confirmed real).<\/p>\n In a previous role as director of digital strategy for Pierson Grant Public Relations I was part of a team who helped several large QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) brands make their initial steps into social media. And again and again we proved\u00a0significant\u00a0<\/em>value in consulting them to actively responding to\u00a0digital reputation\u00a0issues or even basic questions on the social web. In all cases when the approach was genuine and came from the right place, smart web communities\u00a0appreciated\u00a0<\/strong>the brand cared enough to respond. In fact, users frequently\u00a0understood<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0empathized<\/strong>\u00a0with the brand when they were trying to take the necessary corrective action. To the point future conversations in the community would reference the previous, noting how team members behind the company are listening and actually care.<\/p>\n The web has always and will continue to\u00a0be a referential medium,\u00a0for better or worse. Prepare for it and be ready to respond, and in time you can patch issues. Or remain silent and risk forever yielding your reputation to rumors, myths, competitors or those who may not have the full story. Which will continue to be highlighted indefinitely.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not saying McDonald\u2019s doesn\u2019t care. I really think they do. But not just McDonald\u2019s,\u00a0all brands<\/em>, as the subreddit name implies, need to be prepare to answer anything or risk setting expectation with the web that they aren\u2019t interested in being a part of discussions. It basically sends the message we shouldn\u2019t be interested in joining theirs if they don\u2019t want to be a part of ours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Of the macro social news sites, Reddit has easily become my favorite over the past 4 years or so. The … <\/p>\n