There are thousands of articles on the web that catch people’s attention and motivate them to click that share button. My daily task of scrolling through my infinite Facebook newsfeed introduces me to memes and articles my friends found interesting or amusing. It’s hard to avoid the numerous Buzzfeed articles our friends and family love to share.
Just this morning I clicked on a link one of my close friends posted titled: “This Is The Best Twitter Conversation You Will Read Today”. Being a social media obsessed fiend, I clicked on it. Little did I know, I was clicking on one of the most entertaining articles I would ever read on Buzzfeed.
We are all aware of the massive power Twitter has in terms of two-way conversations and personal expression. We also know that companies can leverage this platform in impressive ways. One of the first things you learn as a Public Communication student is how important it is for companies to have a clear and concrete presence in the Twitterverse.
This brings me back to the Buzzfeed article. Here is the gist:
It all started when Ricardo, a Tesco customer, tweeted the following to Tesco Mobile
Just like the Buzzfeed article points out, Chloe's Facebook post doesn't make a whole lot of sense but just go with it.
Brands often use Twitter for damage control and they respond with their deepest apologies to those customers that are tweeting negative things about them. Not only did Tesco use Twitter to address the situation (somewhat) they used it to start one of the most epic Twitter parties of all time.
Tesco replied to Ricardo and formed a relationship with this said customer:
At first I was concerned that Tesco's original response would get them in some trouble but when you read the whole conversation you get lost in this world of awesomely hilarious back and forth. Who cares if Tesco Mobile indirectly called a hater crazy?
I'm not going to post the whole conversation since you can see it all here but things got even more interesting. Yorkshire Tea, Jaffa Cakes, Cadbury UK and other customers joined in on the whole convo:
Now the question is: Was this a smart move for Tesco and the other companies that joined in?
Personally, I'm totally into it. The companies involved have now become way more approachable. I read somewhere that the internet runs off of sarcasm. When you look at websites like Buzzfeed and Reddit, the contributors all thrive off their witty commentary and sarcastically genius input.
Let's be honest, and I don't mean to offend the older generations, but I think this type of conversation is viewed positively among the younger generations. The older generations just might not understand the tone and take it in the wrong way.
Whether or not this was a good move on Tesco Mobile's part is really up for discussion. Anything you post on the internet can be hit or miss it all just depends on how people interpret it. Let's see what people say about this convo as time progresses.
One last note. As I was reading this article I immediately thought about one of my favorite twitter accounts: @NotCoatFactory.
Originally they were under the name @BurlingtonCoatFactory but they were not the official account for The Burlington Coat Factory store. While they were not verified by twitter many people thought this was the official account linked to the company.
The twitter account went viral after it started tweeting some very strange yet hilarious things.
After conflict with the corporate offices of The Burlington Coat Factory the twitter account was deleted. But much to everyone's delight they are back! Check out some of their latest tweets:
I know that these are two different situations seeing as the Tesco tweets were actually from the company but it's still a good example. People love sarcasm and people will be willing to join in on a conversation where they can show of their wit and make people laugh. Wittiness gets retweets and favorites. Funny gets retweets and favorites. I think Tesco got the memo and so did the geniuses behind @NotCoatFactory.
Let's be honest, and I don't mean to offend the older generations, but I think this type of conversation is viewed positively among the younger generations. The older generations just might not understand the tone and take it in the wrong way.
Whether or not this was a good move on Tesco Mobile's part is really up for discussion. Anything you post on the internet can be hit or miss it all just depends on how people interpret it. Let's see what people say about this convo as time progresses.
One last note. As I was reading this article I immediately thought about one of my favorite twitter accounts: @NotCoatFactory.
Originally they were under the name @BurlingtonCoatFactory but they were not the official account for The Burlington Coat Factory store. While they were not verified by twitter many people thought this was the official account linked to the company.
The twitter account went viral after it started tweeting some very strange yet hilarious things.
After conflict with the corporate offices of The Burlington Coat Factory the twitter account was deleted. But much to everyone's delight they are back! Check out some of their latest tweets:
I know that these are two different situations seeing as the Tesco tweets were actually from the company but it's still a good example. People love sarcasm and people will be willing to join in on a conversation where they can show of their wit and make people laugh. Wittiness gets retweets and favorites. Funny gets retweets and favorites. I think Tesco got the memo and so did the geniuses behind @NotCoatFactory.
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