@BPGLOBALPR admits on twitter about the disaster off the Gulf Coast….but its satirical nature enlightens twitter fans the obvious….its not really BP. On June 14 2010 Time magazine published an article www.time/tunein about the “Soul of Twit” and stars @BPGLOBALPR. How far will online media (Corporate PR) go? Online interactive media like the one in question can really influence and inform the public on what’s really going on when the authorities aka government and corporations don’t want to talk.
By this time we all know that BP is not reveling the real statistics and information on what’s really happening on the coast. Our government has given a seemingly vague response and all in all we stand only with an idea of the degree of what kind of a disaster it is, but not really. Twitter, an online media interactive tool, opens the floor for authors, journalist, researchers and individuals to speak their minds in 140 characters. @BPGLOBALPR was a twitter account that was opened just as these information mishaps regarding the oil spill disaster started popping up. Its satirical and funny twits tell us all the 411 on what’s going on or what could be going on at BP (depending on who is behind this account).
These “fake” accounts are an opportunity for corporations to market there product or hurt someone else’s. It could provide useful information or it could provide misinformation. This is why corporations should open a twitter account and be relatively active before someone else gets ahead of the game. In the case of BP, I’m glad this happened, whom ever is behind this and even if the information might be off someone is opening another stream of information other then the censored ones on television. But, in other cases it could really hurt the brand image.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you the government and BP have been very quiet about what is really going on with the oil spill. This is really a major disaster and it is affecting people's livelihood and environment it seems to be taken really light by our government. Someone should investigate and get the real story and expose BP, and this mess settled for once and for all. The fake BP Twitter account launched last week and has 20,000 followers. However, the company's real Twitter account provides updates about oil spill and links to live video clips procedures to stop the leak spilling oil. The fake Twitter account is making fun of the company’s oil spill. I do not believe Twitter can solve any problem especially with current oil spill situation in the Gulf of Mexico. This fake Twitter account can show BP, people of the US and other part of the world are not happy with this oil spill.
ReplyDeleteThis example highlights the power of Social Media & the need for companies to play an active role in these networks asap. The public is starved for information, especially when it involves an environmentally disastrous situation such as an oil spill. I am not sure who is behind the @BPGLOBALPR twitter account, but it is apparently capturing the attention of the masses. This "fake" communication site will further erode BPs corporate image, as there are many people out there that allow themselves to be influenced by such ungrounded information. This is one of the issues with the Social Media Networks - it is oftentimes difficult to separate fact from fiction. Companies need to actively get involved in the social media arena in order to be able to quickly counter any erroneous information being tweeted or posted about them. In not doing so, they run the risk of tainting their corporate image by not setting the "story straight".
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