Cyber Bullying and Social Media

What is Cyber Bullying?

In this wonderful modern era of web-based social media, sadly there's a new area of concern as well in the form of cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is bullying using technology. For instance, it involves using the Internet, mobile phone or other technology like a camera to bully and so hurt or embarrass someone. It can happen anonymously, at any hour, anywhere and reach a vast audience.

Cyberbullying has a number of certain features:

 it allows for a potentially infinite audience to view or participate

 it is often anonymous as perpetrators can hide behind false identities

 it has a permanency of expression as information put online can be difficult to remove, and may be recorded and archived

 it may be difficult to escape from the bullying as people often use technology everyday and in the case of mobile phones can be constantly contactable

 content can be duplicated easily

 content is often searchable.

What does Cyber Bullying look like?

Bullying on the Internet or using mobiles can include:

 being sent mean and/or anonymous text messages

 receiving nasty or threatening messages through social networking sites

 people sending photos or videos of you to other people with the intention of embarrassing you

 people spreading rumors about you

 people intimidating or harassing you

 people trying to stop you from communicating with others

 people hacking into, or stealing passwords to access your online accounts (e.g. Facebook or My Space)

 any form of communication that is discriminatory.

Why is Cyber Bullying a growing concern?

We are all using the Internet, mobile phones and other technologies more than ever. While these technologies bring many benefits to our lives, such as connecting with friends, entertainment, research and accessing support services, their growing use means that Cyber Bullying poses increased risks and dangers, particularly for young people. In Australia Cyber Bullying affects at least one in ten students.

In June 2010 young people aged 14 -17 years old had the highest rate of Internet use in Australia with 91% spending time online every week.

Level of Internet use	14-17 year olds	Total population 14 years and older
Heavy users (>15 hrs per week)	36%	28%
Medium users (>7- 15 hrs per week)	37%	27%
Light users (<7 hrs per week)	18%	23%
No use in an average week	9%	22%

Retrieved from ACMA,,‘Australia in the digital economy, shift to the online environment’, Communications Report 2009-10 Series, (June 2010) p 13.

What are the impacts of Cyber Bullying?

Bullying, including Cyber Bullying, can have serious impacts on individuals, organizations and communities. Cyberbullying can be detrimental to a person’s mental and physical health. Victims can experience significant social isolation and feel unsafe. It can lead to emotional and physical harm, loss of self-esteem, and feelings of shame and anxiety, concentration and learning difficulties. Incidents of young people committing suicide have also occurred. In the case of a perpetrator of bullying, it can contribute to ongoing antisocial or criminal behavior and engaging in abuse in other contexts. Cyberbullying is likely to create difficult and unsafe environments in organizations, be it at school, work or sporting clubs. Organizations at, or through, which bullying occurs have responsibilities to address and prevent bullying. In addition to the significant harm that cyber bullying can have, not addressing incidents of bullying could expose organizations to risks of claims for compensation.

Two of the most famous cases are the suicide of Ryan Halligan and Megan Meier back in 2003 and 2006 respectively, due to the effect of cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is unique case because it can happen 24/7 and most people think they can get away with it, without knowing the impact it can have towards the bullied person. 

Here's a video showing celebrities read mean tweets and their reactions

So what do you guys think about this new type of bullying? any idea on how to solve this problem and who do you guys think should be responsible for this, parents, friends or the social media itself? 

Twitter a Valuable Marketing Tool

The Twitter Debate 

Should we consider Twitter to be a marketing tool or is it just for people who have a lot of time on their hands and the need to jibber-jabber all day long? 

I will be honest, I was an early adopter of Twitter and then I ignored it for quite some time, because i just dont get the idea on how to use it. However once i understand it fully, i absolutely like it. 

Think of Twitter as a means to get instant public messages out to your audience, whether it is an audience of colleagues or potential customers. 

Twitter is becoming an increasingly important platform for online communication and, yes, conversation. TechCrunch reported that Twitter is receiving 8 million unique visitors per month and about 3 million messages are posted daily.  

How can we use Twitter as a marketing tool? 

Good question. Let me see if I can help. 

Twitter As A Source of Information

As I mentioned, over 3 million messages are posted everyday. Are you mentioned in any of them? What about your company? This might be a good time to find out. Twitter provides a search engine that allows you plug-in company names, brand names, topics and even personal names. How is your buzz level? Are there any negative comments out there? If I were you, I'd use the search engine to check in a regular basis. 

Today, I found out that Coles made a customer unhappy and he Twittered about it. I learned that Rockstar Games has some really cool iPhone applications and that the pancakes at Pancake Parlour is to die for. All that was posted recently, so whether you are engaging on and participating in Twitter or not, someone may just be twitting about you or your company.  

Use Twitter as a Media Outlet 

You can use Twitter to post news or updates about your company or products. However, please don't do this before you become familiar with the format and etiquette of Twitter. The best way to do this is to post a link to the full content of the news or update. Think of what's valuable to your consumers and let them hear about it first on Twitter. You'll be amazed how your following will grow. Plan it carefully to prevent a disaster just like KennethCole 

KennethCole Twitter Disaster

A Promotional Palace 

It's not uncommon for companies to post promotions, sales, or specials on Twitter. An example would be Dell, they do it well. It's important to remember that Twitter is about conversation and breaking news, so be sure if you are posting promotional information that you make it conversational and personal. If I want an ad, I'll turn on TV. 

Create Character in Your Brand 

Twitter is a fantastic tool in giving your brand a voice and a personality. Being successful in Twittering, you will have to put forth your personality and a unique style. That's what makes the difference and can increase your Twitter following and make it a successful marketing tool for you. 

Great Marketing Research Tool! 

Imagine having a test group of millions, that can provide real time consumer feedback at a unprecedented level. Companies will be able to release a new product and almost instantly find out what people think. Additionally they can get take the pulse of customer sentiment and then make changes to increase customer satisfaction. Twitter could also empower customers to get their complaints heard as unhappy customers will have a way to tell thousands of followers about their bad experience. All it takes is a short text message that gets retweeted and a brand’s reputation can be tarnished overnight. This could mean a stronger focus on improving customer experience. Optimistically, companies will be able to better understand the customer by listening more closely and using the data mined from the Twitersphere to create improved products and services that will increase customer satisfaction.

That's my view on how important Twitter can be as a marketing tool, not just an everyday jibber-jabber media. Is there any other view that you guys have on twitter as a marketing tool? feel free to share.

Social Media - The Success Story of Tesco

Talk about social customer service and social engagement, we can not talk about Tesco. Because in both cases, a team of social media and customer service Tesco is one of the best in the retail industry. With the customer's data center is large enough, the retailer is offering a personal and local service.

Achievement won by Tesco's not magic. It takes foresight to understand the nature of social media and customer. There are some key things that we can learn from the success of Tesco in managing their social media, among others:

Determine expectations

When it comes to social media, customers can have such great expectations. For example, getting a response as soon as they complain. And we know social media is media that live for 24 hours. Are you able to meet these expectations?
If it can not, you must proactively inform what can be expected by the customer. For example, by informing "hours of service" social customer service through a timeline of your Facebook or Twitter profile companies. This is done proactively by Tesco. They inform each day "hours of service" them.

Do not move media

It's important for retailers to try and defend an issue is in the same channel. For example, there are customers who ask something or specific complaints through social media, the responsibility and resolve the issue through the same medium. Do not settle through other media.
This is what the customer wants and that's why they turned to Twitter and Facebook. Switching channels not only make customers annoyed, but it also makes it difficult for the customer service staff.

Immediate response to customer

Immediately respond to the customer asking for help is the most important factor in customer service. It is certainly beneficial when it comes to customers. They can quickly obtain detailed information. Tesco understands this well. they put customer service staff who have complete knowledge about the products and services of the company, so they can quickly respond to customer needs.

Emotional Engagement

In a social platform, delivering a friendly and warm is the key to success. Tesco knows this, that's why they mobilize their customer service to be more than just a route to resolution. Their team combines effective customer support by delivering a friendly and supportive message.
It is important for the team to know when to add the spice of humor when dealing with customers. However, they also have to know when to act serious. The balance between the two will give added value to every tweet or comment on a social media company.

Building Bridges

The biggest advantage is given to the company's social media is likely to change a negative into a positive. Angry customers can not necessarily be appeased, but with social media you can create a great public recommendations. It is far more valuable than anything you can create. Social media can really transform a number of critics to be the leading supporter.

Tesco virtual store in South Korea, a new shopping experience