SeaWorld twitter backfire

[josieposy]

I'm gonna start a new post series: Stupid Companies on Twitter #scot

There's just too many to share. See link for more.


www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/27/seaworld-twitter-fail_n_6950902.html

SeaWorld dived into the Twitter shark tank with an #AskSeaWorld campaign this week, but the move probably didn't go the way the theme park intended.

In an effort to rehabilitate its image following controversy from the 2013 release of "Blackfish," the park tried educating the public with an #AskSeaWorld campaign. It invited users to post questions on Twitter that would then be answered on a SeaWorld Cares site. Instead, people used the campaign as an opportunity to skewer SeaWorld, asking things like when the park would finally close and bringing up animal welfare issues.

SeaWorld saw ticket sales plunge after the release of the documentary, which investigated the death of orca trainer Dawn Brancheau and harshly criticized SeaWorld's treatment of killer whales. The highly intelligent and sociable animals live in family-based pods in the wild, and scenes, including some showing calves being torn away from their mothers, didn't sit well with audiences.

Near the time of the film's release, SeaWorld called the documentary "shamefully dishonest, deliberately misleading, and scientifically inaccurate."

During the chat, animal advocates and others drew attention to SeaWorld's alleged mistreatment of animals. Some accused SeaWorld of putting profits ahead of its animals' well-being, and others wondered how SeaWorld thought a Twitter Q&A would go.

[meshaliuknits]

If you ask the internet, you're going to get responses you don't want. What about that is so hard to grasp?

[pixy0stix]

bwah ha ha!

[ESF]

HOW DO COMPANIES AND PEOPLE KEEP BEING THIS DUMB?

[omgzombies]

[Deleted]

I have to believe that any company who does this has hired someone as social media coordinator who has never been online before. Anyone who has spent more than the 30 seconds it takes to sign up on Twitter knows how this is going to go.

It cracks me up that these people are probably honestly surprised. They're sitting in conference rooms saying things like, "Social media is the next big thing!", "We need to get online to be more accessible!", "Twitter will make us relatable!" And then BOOM Internet justice happens.

[josieposy]

Mar 28, 2015 6:06:25 GMT -5 @silver said:

I have to believe that any company who does this has hired someone as social media coordinator who has never been online before. Anyone who has spent more than the 30 seconds it takes to sign up on Twitter knows how this is going to go.

It cracks me up that these people are probably honestly surprised. They're sitting in conference rooms saying things like, "Social media is the next big thing!", "We need to get online to be more accessible!", "Twitter will make us relatable!" And then BOOM Internet justice happens.

Right? It just cracks me up that companies (and politicians) get this bright idea to try social media over and over again whenever they need to freshen their image, and it is a bad idea every single time. I posted one earlier this week where it backfired on the Mall of America as well.

#scot - I'm gonna make it happen until they learn.

[Deleted]

A HUGE part of social media is listening. If you aren't getting a pulse on what people are already saying about you before trying an online chat, you need to practice more.