A Social Media Feel Good Story

• May 5th, 2010
• Posted by Feran
• Posted in Boeing, Social Media, Social Media News, Twitter

Boeing’s recent situation regarding an ambitious 8 year old boy named Harry turned what could have been a typical corporate cold shoulder persona into a feel good made for TV storyline – with Social Media playing the main protagonist’s role.

Here’s the basic premise:

A young and avid airplane lover submits his aircraft design to Boeing – fully equipped with firefighting capabilities. In return, he receives a form letter pretty much rejecting his idea in a stiff, corporate template.  His father, unsure of how to break a child’s creative spirits, turns to his blog and Twitter account for advice. . .

Let the power of social media (as well as essential social skills) take over from here.  People appalled by the company’s response began voicing this disappointment in channels like Twitter.  Luckily, Boeing got the message, as they had just begun tweeting a few weeks earlier. They actively responded to Harry supporters, thus halting the income of negative messages and instead ended up getting props for hearing and responding. “It was just so cool to see a company become kind of human,” Harry’s dad said.

Harry made out pretty well too. The Future of Flight museum called him about a kids’ drawing contest, the Museum of Flight offered him a tour, and Boeing is working on a more appropriate response to the child.

A good takeaway to remember is even if a situation occurs offline, be careful not to underestimate the possibility of social media outcomes. It could very well end up in an outpour of tweets, Facebook pages, blog posts and eventually hit major media outlets like the New York Times and Spring Creek Group blog, influencing a corporation to rethink how they connect with people in the first place.

Read the full article here: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/boeings-social-media-lesson/?ref=technology