Last week Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails (NIN) frontman, gave up on Twitter. Reznor is active in the online community and has also just released a NIN iPhone app. Reznor said on his online forum: “I will be tuning out of the social networking sites because at the end of the day it’s now doing more harm than good in the bigger picture and the experiment seems to have yielded a result. Idiots rule.”

Only a few days earlier, Twilight author Stephanie Meyer pulled down her MySpace page. She posted a comment on her website and mentioned: “Many of you are hilarious and insightful, and I wish it was easier for me to talk to everyone the way I used to.” Stephanie also made a point of saying: “I don’t do twitter. So if you’re communicating with someone online that you think is me, it’s not.”

So what happened? Why are these two prominent social figures abandoning innovative communication channels? The answer: People suck.

The fact that people suck is far from a new concept. I suspect that it goes all the way back to caveman days. The concept of celebrities getting hate mail probably existed since snail mail’s inception as well. What has changed is the ease for which an individual can comment. That and the individual’s anonymity. A colleague of mine likened it to road rage. When some people get behind the wheel, or in this case, a keyboard, they feel a sense of empowerment and entitlement…and they act accordingly.

So what’s a communication professional to do? You want your message out there through every avenue that is appropriate, but you don’t want people posting hurtful, vulgar, or even dangerous comments. The answer, until technology provides a better one, is acceptance, preparation and vigilance.

Accept the fact that people suck and someone will eventually post something negative if you provide them the means to comment. Also accept the fact that it’s some people’s business to post non-subject related comments as ads for their own products. My blog has already received a comment about “Rybka” my “Kyivska prostitute”. Luckily my blog plugins label the comment as spam and I can choose not to post it. Once you have come to grips with acceptance, you can move on to preparation.

Prepare for your interaction with the online world. Enable any technology that will help filter spam or reject offensive content from received comments. Also prepare your client / superior / stakeholder with the information necessary to ensure that, if a negative comment gets posted, they are not taken by surprise.

Being vigilant is constant moderation of your social media marketing efforts. In some cases you could remove a negative comment or you can respond in a way to nullify the comment. The easiest way would be to require your viewers to register to comment and then review each comment, but that effort could deter even the good users! Of course you could always hire a firm to moderate your online efforts, if your budget allows.

User comments, good or bad, provide marketing insight in a way that no other method can. These are the real thoughts of real people who are speaking their minds. It is what it is. You may even see other users coming to your aid to defend your product or post, but don’t count on it.

Social media can be amazing. Last month Reznor helped raise over $850k inside a week through Twitter. The money is going to Eric De La Cruz who is in need of a heart transplant. As I write this post, protests are happening in Iran over their recent, questionably legitimate, election. Twitter postponed a critical network upgrade due to the important role the tool is playing in this unfolding situation. Find out more on this at #iranelection. Don’t let the negative aspects of Social Media discourage you from moving forward with your plans. The power to reach people with these tools is undeniable.

1. Nicole Valentine Says:
   June 17th, 2009 at 10:42 am

   You’re so right – Preparation is key neo – and sadly also served with a side of resignation. If you post it they will come. However everyone needs to convince their clients that you can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. There is a tremendous power to social networks that quite often is hidden beneath the inane chatter. Even the U.S. State Dept. requested Twitter hold back on their server upgrades and downtime because they are using Twitter to track the situation in Iran.

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