![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.strategicobjectives.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/SorryFlourescent1.jpg\")
<\/a>Every day,\u00a050 million Twitter users<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a09 million Canadian Facebook users<\/a>\u00a0log on to the web to check the latest news, see what their friends are up to, and check in with their favourite brands. These considerable numbers represent a public that is ever vigilant, always watching, listening and sharing \u2013 evoking a new culture of social policing.<\/p>\nThis summer, we saw a proliferation of public apologies issued by businesses and celebrities, including Twilight heroine\u00a0Kristen Stewart<\/a>, Olympic athlete\u00a0Voula Papachristou<\/a>, online fashion retailer\u00a0Celeb Boutique<\/a>, and even social network giant\u00a0Twitter<\/a>. All of which attracted considerable controversy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One example of a social apology done well is Southwest Airlines which recently celebrated its 3 million Facebook LIKES by offering fans 50% off a round-trip flight using the promotion code LUV2LIKE. Due to an \u2018error in the system,\u2019 customers were charged multiple times for the same flight. Southwest instantly issued two transparent public apologies on its Facebook page on\u00a0August 4<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0August 5<\/a>, while the airline proactively canceled all duplicate itineraries and provided constant updates to customers. Southwest\u2019s timely crisis management efforts received major positive responses from the public, including this from Sharon Belknap:<\/p>\n My phone agent was great. I thought it was my impatience that created the 11 bookings. Her opening line to my query was, “did you book half a plane for yourself?” We both laughed. Yes, used my debit card and there have been challenges with cash flow requiring quick thinking.<\/em><\/p>\n But it’s ALL about quick thinking and getting back to creating a good life…and for that, Southwest has always been my wingman! Carry on!<\/em><\/p>\n A recent report by\u00a0Christian Science Monitor<\/em><\/a>\u00a0concluded that brands are apologizing more than ever before. According to Dr. Aaron Lazare, author of\u00a0On Apology<\/em><\/a>, the number of public apologies has tripled since the 1980s. Why are we now seeing such an increase in public displays of remorse? Is bad behavior on the rise or can this phenomenon be attributed to something else?<\/p>\n Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter provide greater opportunities for companies, public figures and average Joes just like us to slight someone without intent. Even more damaging are the opportunities to share and spread those offenses. Remember, news travels fast, but bad news even faster.<\/p>\n People have an attraction to bad news, and\u00a0that\u2019s a fact<\/a>, says Dr. John T. Cacioppo of Ohio State University, \u201cThe human brain is more stimulated by the negative than the positive.\u201d To put it simply, bad news is just more interesting. Celebrity tabloids and gossip magazines are considered the epitome of entertainment news. We love to hear about breakups, lawsuits, bankruptcies and other forms of salacious news, which is why it\u2019s so important for brands to be aware of our natural inclination to schadenfreude.<\/p>\n The public controls the Internet. It is in our human nature to enjoy seeing the diminution of successful figures, which is why those in the public eye must take extra care. Tweet responsibly, post sensibly, and remember that in the world of social media, your audience never sleeps. \u00a0Brands need to understand that the customer is always on duty, a reality that I discussed in my\u00a0speech on\u00a0#SOcialpr: It\u2019s Sink or Swim in the Age of Instant News<\/a>\u00a0at the #140MTL conference earlier this year. The bottom line? Brands must engage and respond with proactive community management, with immediacy, and to every customer complaint and concern. This is essential to keep your community alive.<\/p>\n The suspicion that society is producing more bad apples than usual is probably not the case.\u00a0 Our ever-connected culture yields conditions where mistakes are caught quicker and more readily than in the past. To properly manage reputation and crises, transgressions must be properly acknowledged, which likely explains why public apologies appear as prominently, and as frequently, as they do today.<\/p>\n Social media has transformed the way brands communicate, behave and interact with their audiences. In this age of instant news, the prevalence of public apologies is merely a reminder that brands are now assigned a new high level of accountability brought on by the average social media user. The citizen influencer\u2019s constant watch is a reminder to brands that social media is a P2P \u2013 person to person \u2013 endeavour and must be treated with due respect and constant attention.<\/p>\n _________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n This post originally appeared on the Strategic Objectives blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With social media usage the new societal norm, we\u2019ve developed a hyper-connected culture, where what we do and what we say is publicly broadcasted in a matter of seconds. Social media has opened up a whole new world of opportunities, many of which should not be taken recklessly, considering the presence of such a mass … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,211],"tags":[821,822,824,1085,1744,30,729,1745,207],"class_list":["post-4406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-deborahweinstein","tag-debweinstein","tag-so_pr","tag-deborah-weinstein","tag-sm","tag-smm","tag-social-media","tag-strategic-objectives","tag-toronto-pr","tag-toronto-pr-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4406"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4409,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4406\/revisions\/4409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.strategicobjectives.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/DW-Photo-258x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Deborah Weinstein (@DebWeinstein<\/a>) is co-founder, partner and president of\u00a0Strategic Objectives<\/a>, an international award-winning, full-service public relations agency that delivers smart ideas and better solutions to many of Canada and the world\u2019s leading brands. Headquartered in Toronto, Strategic Objectives is IABC\/Toronto PR Agency of the Year 2012, 2011, and 2009. It employs more than 40 top public relations professionals, in addition to associates across Canada, and collaborates with Pinnacle Worldwide PR partners around the world. Deborah is a recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal.<\/p>\n