GUEST AUTHOR Steve Masters provides online publishing and marketing consultancy to SMEs in a number of countries, mostly the UK and Portugal.
Will social media kill off lawyers? That’s the question we should consider after a number of high profile gaffes by big brand owners, who have tried to protect their image by calling in the dogs.
Back in the days when all news came via newspapers, radio or TV, any person or brand owner wishing to protect themselves from defamation or malicious campaigning could simply call up Biglaw & Partners to obtain a cease and desist letter; or they could ask a judge to apply an injunction which would be immediately adhered to.
Now, those in authority find themselves in a rather tenuous position because the global population is armed with an internet connection, a Facebook account and a desire to stick up two fingers to authority when it matters.
Somehow, the people of the world have not bothered to read the memo about the judges being in charge. The recent revolt against superinjunctions is a case in point – with thousands of people laughing at the UK’s legalised censorship. Never before has the phrase ‘the law is an ass’ been so apt.
Ryan Giggs, and perhaps other celebrities, will by now have learned that the best course of action, when trouble comes knocking, is not to call in the lawyers.
A telephone retailer in Portugal also learned this the hard way last year, when it took offence at a blog post by an angry customer. Ensitel (a mobile phone retailer) failed to respond to requests from a customer for service. That customer happened to be the manager of blogs for a major Portuguese ISP, so she posted about Ensitel’s poor service.
Did Ensitel respond by trying to help the customer? No, they called their lawyers, who sent a threatening letter to said blogger. The blogger, instead of caving, posted about the letter, and this increased awareness of the whole incident so much that Ensitel instantly lost control of its reputation.
The result, thanks to eager bloggers and social networkers, was that the bad news overshadowed the good – search Google for ‘Ensitel’ and page one offers more links to items about Ensitel’s bad PR than to official pages.
Kit-Kat also learned a hard lesson when Nestlé critics invaded its Facebook page to attack the company and Kit-Kat staffers tried to head off the attack by removing posts. Nothing lights a fire online like a bout of corporate censorship, so of course the result was the opposite of the desired effect.
The biggest lesson any celebrity or brand owner can learn in the Web 2.0 era is that the lawyers should be the last people you call, not the first. In a world where the population controls the news agenda, the law really is an ass.
Monty Munford has more than 15 years' experience in mobile, digital media, web and journalism. He is the founder of Mob76, a company that helps tech companies raise money and exit. He speaks regularly at global media events with a focus on Africa, writes a weekly column for The Telegraph, is a regular contributor to The Economist, Wired, Mashable and speaks regularly on the BBC World Service.
