Social media complainers get results: £65 million paid out in the past year

Are you a social media complainer? Do you use the likes of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to vent your spleen at companies that have let you down?  If so, you’re one of millions of people who eschew the traditional letter of complaint or irate phone call, choosing instead to air grievances on a public forum. A cursory Google of the term ‘social complainer’ yields multiple results, from ‘The 5 Types of Social Media Complainers’ to ‘How to Deal With the Worst Social Media Complainers’. There’s even a guide to the ‘Five Complainer-Customer Personas’. Today’s Twitter fury over the United Airlines customer who was booted off a plane to make way for crew demonstrates the damage that social media can do to a business’s brand. Footage of the incident has been shared across the world, forcing United into what PRs call emergency crisis management. Many people are threatening to boycott the airline. While the whole story behind the ejection of United’s passenger has yet to emerge, the incident is sure to haunt the company.