They were coming from a position that they were getting tired of the mainstream usage of the phrase ‘social media’ and I was coming from an observation that in the very near future, all media will be social and that as a culture, we will expect, nay demand, our interaction with the media around us to provide the opportunity to be social.

The model of interaction and development of advertising, marketing and corporate communications is destined to undergo still even more radical changes based on the principals and paradigms of what we call today, social media.

The dampener on the explosion of social media is the inability of brands and corporation to control the messages related to their brand.  When this comes up, I find myself stating that “control is an illusion, at best, you can try to herd cats” when it comes to social media.

Case in point is a blog post I came across by a UK blogger, Henry Tapper, who writes at henrytapper.wordpress.com.  He posted a link on a LinkedIn group to his blog asking, “Do we understand the risks to our business of social media?“

I clicked through and read his post, in which he commented about the attention that needs to be paid to staff participation in social media, particularly when it involves a financial service company.  There is the potential for quite a lot of damage to be done by a rogue employee who posts trade secrets or confidential memos online.

At TheSocialMediaBible.com, this question comes up quite a lot from all types of companies.  While I cannot disagree with the sentiment, I predict that we’ll see companies who can withstand the scrutiny of an open, public examination prospering and those who try to shrink or control a social media-based interaction diminishing.

The impact that social media supports or, in another perspective threatens, is a function of the open, all inclusive characteristic of the genre – it’s organic, based on human need / desire to interact and I’m not at all sure that it can be contained.

If we look at it from another angle, I’ll ask how CAN you prevent staff from participating in social media?  With the growth of smartphones to facilitate access and short of making non-participation in any social media a condition of employment, I am not sure that this does not bridge over in to 1st amendment territory in the US.

So if the overwhelming movement in media is to a model that demands more and more social interaction, I wonder what the outcome will be.  An anarchy of uncontrolled messaging that impacts brands and companies at will, or even more attempts to contain the uncontainable nature of human interactions?

We live in interesting times, yes?

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In my humble opinion, I’m seeing Horizon trying to put lipstick on this pig (which means trying to make an ugly situation look good without addressing the underlying cause).

Mandatory in a social media crisis containment scenario is they they mea culpa and admit an error. In the released statement, they show no remorse or contrition for their behavior or a willingness to try and make nice with Ms. Bonnen.

They suggest in their statement that Jeffery Michael’s comments were ‘taken out of context’ by the Sun-Times.  Not a bad tactic, I’d try to get a podcast / recording out containing the conversation with the reporter if it existed.

In their statement, they try to characterize their customer as the bad egg.  This again is their client, their consumer, and they shift blame to them for all this.  Did she really have a lawsuit already filed against Horizon?  Hmm… was this response then Horizon’s attempt to intimidate her into dropping the previous action?  Could be perceived that way I suppose.  Not enough details yet to make a call.  In any case, I am not sure I’d yet be willing to consider Horizon as my property management company if all they do is blame others – we all make mistakes.

What Horizon may not be getting a grip on is that regardless of the portion of fault that resides with the client, their consumer, it is they that will end up being seen as the Snidley Whiplash of this episode.

This reaction may not serve to remedy the loss of social capital they have already suffered, which will most likely lead to a loss of financial capital, but taking your medicine was never an easy thing to do and if you’ve always counted on traditional media tactics, understanding how best to employ the model of social media sometimes gets lost in the translation.

Horizons Press Release from their website (looks like it might be their first ever)

Horizon Realty Press Release

What Can They Do Now? Are there other tactics they might employ to get this issue out of the news or at least improve the companies image in the press as a ‘sue first’ company?

I think so, but they require honesty, transparency and a commitment to do what’s right – even if it hurts a bit.  Can Horizon still recover from this glaring faux pas of a very public customer relations situation gone bad?  If they keep thinking of social media as just another outlet for the same old message, maybe not.

Image by Coulas & Lourdes, Inc. 

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What it looks like is that a real estate company named “Horizon Realty Group“, a company that manages about 15 properties in the Chicago area, has taken issue with the post and filed a lawsuit for $50,000 in damages from the person who made the post, Amanda Bonnen.  What did Ms. Bonnen say that was so bad that Horizon felt compelled to file a suit?  It looks like a reply to one of her followers / friends that said “You should just come anyway. Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay.”  (the account @ABonnen is now inactive BTW)

Its a good thing that Horizon is savvy enough to monitor the social media world for it’s brand and mentions of it’s company.  Now we begin to explore what should you NOT do when you find a post like this.

Should they have filed the lawsuit for $50,000?  Maybe, but now that the story has made it to the mainstream media, the likely impact to the company filing the suit will likely be something much more more than the $50,000 they are seeking from Ms. Bonnen, who could not possibly be found at fault for the loss of revenue after this story has made the rounds.  I’ll say they probably should not have filed the suit.

The overwhelming penalty in revenue and social capital will not be because of the initial Twitter post made by Ms. Bonnen.  The impact will be because of two other things being talked about regarding this event. 

First is that the property management company opted to file the suit to begin with.  They might have handled it a hundred other ways, but a lawsuit is the way they decided to handle it.  They did not apparently attempt to contact Ms. Bonnen before filing the suit.  Whether or not they did attempt to contact Ms. Bonnen is now irrelevant though.  It’s the next item that really I think closed the door for Horizon and their reputation.

The second item is a comment by Jeffery Michael, who’s family has run the real estate company for about 25 years, who said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times “we’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of company”.

hmm…

My thought after reading about that comment was “… well, that’s good to know that about that real estate company – I’ll make sure I NEVER rent from them”. 

It’s a thought that I think it will be the assessment of hundreds, if not thousands of other potential renters over the next few days, weeks and years.  The impact to their revenue will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost rentals, maybe millions of dollars. 

Chicago is a city of of over 2.8M people.  If Jeffery had held his tongue, MAYBE 20 people would have heard about it.  Now that the media has picked it up, all 2M+ Chicago residents have or will likely heard about it.  Heaven knows how many more million of people across the country and now the world will hear about it.

Now when people search for “Horizon Realty”, guess what will likely come up as the #1 result?  Probably not their well constructed site – it will be this story for the next several years to come.  It’ll be the comment that the company is a “sue first, ask questions later” kind of company.  This could be bad for revenue.

What To Do?  If I were to advise Horizon, I get them to immediately withdraw the lawsuit, apologize to Ms. Bonnen, and comp her rent for a year.  I’d make it known that legal action is a last step, not a first.  There are a few other actions I would recommend as well, but I’m sure they’re getting a big dose of social media crisis recovery consulting right now – they can contact me if they would like a few other tips.

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• Jeffery Michael / Horizon Realty Formally Respond to their $50,000 Tweet Lawsuit
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