The Dark Side of Social Networking in Business
Amazon.com recently suffered a bit of a backlash on twitter (#amazonfail) when an enormous number of books relating to ***, gay, bi-sexual, and transgendered (LGBT) themes lost their Amazon sales rank, and therefore their visibility in certain Amazon list and search functions. It seemed like Amazon was indulging in discrimination and the crowd was not happy.
Clay Shirkey was in the angry mob, but realised that his emotional response had blinded him to the facts, that what had happened on Amazon was purely a technological phenomenon and there was no hidden agenda. His insightful reflection on the event highlights one of the dangers for businesses using social networking. When the mob turns nasty, you have no defence and there is no justice. There is no reasoning with an angry mob. Whatever mud they throw at you, some of it will stick.