When a Short Retreat is Better than a Full-Scale Assault in the Social Media World
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No need to rehash the Steven Slater saga. By now, most of us are trying to shut out the noise.
Speculation on when, and how JetBlue would respond to this PR nightmare has finally ended. Nearly 140 carefully chosen words (not characters), swung public perception and media attitude from deep in negative territory into a mid-, and somewhat positive state.
How?
For two days, nothing was forthcoming. In this media-frenzied, fully-connected world, that’s unthinkable. How could JetBlue NOT respond – when it has to this point – navigated its social media so well?
Finally this post appeared on JetBlue’s blog, BlueTales:
Sometimes the weird news is about us…
It wouldn’t be fair for us to point out absurdities in other corners of the industry without acknowledging when it’s about us. Well, this week’s news certainly falls into that category. Perhaps you heard a little story about one of our flight attendants? While we can’t discuss the details of what is an ongoing investigation, plenty of others have already formed opinions on the matter. Like, the entire Internet. (The reason we’re not commenting is that we respect the privacy of the individual. People can speak on their own behalf; we won’t do it for them.)
While this episode may feed your inner Office Space, we just want to take this space to recognize our 2,300 fantastic, awesome and professional Inflight Crewmembers for delivering the JetBlue Experience you’ve come to expect of us.
You can’t make this shtick up.
Short. To the point. A bit tongue in cheek (risky). Acknowledging the crisis but neither fueling or defending it. Praising the thousands of employees who provide positive JetBlue experiences. Essentially saying: This is all you’re going to get from us – now move along. I think it’s a brilliant lesson in social media simplicity.
Instead of going “postal,” people tweet about going “JetBlue.” If the old adage holds true – there’s no such thing as bad publicity – JetBlue is gold.
