Social Media Extortion

Is it ethical to leverage your social media following for gain?

At a recent networking event I met a gentleman who proudly boasted of having leveraged his social media following to fix a problem he encountered while traveling. Upon arriving at his overnight lodging he was welcomed with poor service and a room that was not what he had asked for or expected. After argueing with the staff for several minutes, to no avail, he determined his only option was the threat of going ‘viral’.  He quickly pulled out his iPad and shot an e-mail to upper management threatening that if he did not get the room he wanted with the appropriate deference from the front desk staff, he was going to tweet to his thousands of followers and thousands of Facebook friends how horribly he had been treated at their establishment.

Within minutes, he said, phones were ringing, people were scurrying and upper management came out to greet him. The management was so happy that he was staying at their fine lodge and ‘of course’ his new room with extra fluffy bed was waiting for his arrival.

I calmly looked at my recent acquaintance and asked, “Wasn’t your threat a form of extortion?”

“Oh no” he replied, “I got the room and service I deserved. That’s what you get when you have thousand of Facebook friends and thousands of Twitter followers.” Surely, this was a man with lots of social media muscle that could make large corporations bow down to him. Chalk one up for common man or B list celebrity.

Comparitively speaking, I am a weakling with only a few hundred FB friends and Twitter followers. I could never extort my way to a better: room, dinner, theater tickets, airplane seat, etc. Of course, no one knows how many friends and followers I have. I might be able to bluff my way into that suite at the Ritz Carlton.

But is that ethical? It is one situation to Yelp about poor service or crummy food at a restaurant, but it seems an entirely different scenario to use the threat of social media limited nuclear war for gain or to resolve an issue or dispute. While it is not illegal to tweet the facts, as you perceive them, I believe you cross an ethical line when you tweet for vengence and the spoils of war.

Finally, I asked my acquaintance, “Where were you staying that had such poor service?” With a completely straight face he answered, “A Hostel up in Seattle.”

Well, I thought, I might have enough social media muscle at a Hostel, with my type of friends and followers, to get an upper bunk bed.

Your comments are welcomed and encouraged. However, don’t even threaten me with twitter extortion if I don’t approve your comments.

May 25, 2012: Sacramento restaurants decry ‘Yelp extortion’

The Sacramento Bee reported that a patron of the Red Rabbit Kitchen and Bar restaurant was going to give a poor review on Yelp if they did not get a gift card for another dinner. The would be extortionist claimed to have gotten sick from eating at the establishment.

I have not been to the Red Rabbit but I have seen lots of wonderful check-ins and comments from social media friends on Facebook, Instagram and Foursquare. These comments, from my perspective, overwhelm anything that might be said on Yelp. But this highlights how some people feel empowered to vent their petty grievances for monetary gain through social media. Obviously, this “would be” extortionist has very little clout on FB, Twitter or blogs, so they must try to execute their feeble extortion through a different venue.

October 11, 2011: I have never had a blog post that has generated as many hits as this one.

Police officers defuse a situation between two Occupy Wall Street protesters in Zuccotti Park, in New York. Having started in New York, Occupy Wall Streets demonstrations now take place all across the United States, as protesters speak out against corporate greed and the gap between the rich and the poor. Will the “Occupy” movement become the Left’s Tea Party?

With the Occupy Wall Street protests and their use of social media, I wonder if that could be considered a form of social media extortion.  Although it seems to be a mix of social media and good old fashion grass roots people power.

Henry Ray Abrams/AP