Prompted by several recent threads here, I have been pondering on the issue of feedback to local businesses (whether they are a local small business or part of a larger chain). I think we are all agreed that positive feedback is to be welcomed as it helps boost our local economy as well as praise the local people who work there. It is a universal good thing!
However, what is evidently more controversial is when that feedback is negative. Some people seem of the view that this should not be posted here and say this site risks becoming a 'spotted-like' site with loads of back-biting etc. Others say no, surely if someone has received poor service why should they not be able to talk about it? This FB group is not just a 'pollyannaish' place..etc. Others (and some have done this privately to me) raise questions of litigation / defamation / libel etc... And there are many other positions too!
I take on board all views and here is what I would like to say in response:
1) No one should post here anything that could be defamatory or libellous. If you do, then you run the risk of being sued. Of course if it merely a personal opinion or (of course) factual, then no such litigation could ensue (although - if the lawyers wish to comment - please do so..)
2) If you do have something negative to say about a business, I would hope that you would have pursued ordinary feedback routes first, and sought resolution with the business directly. If that route fails, then I think it is OK to give your views here. But take care: do you ~really~ need to say this in a public forum? Is it helping make the world a better place?
3) If you represent a business on the receiving end of such negative feedback, you are welcome to respond here. It may well be that you will wish to take the conversation offline with your aggrieved customer and not have some big debate in this public space, of course. Of course, it may also be the case that your business has a policy of not engaging in social media conversations. That is of course the company's choice. My view however is that in this day and age, that policy may have to change...
4) It is for the person who posts to choose whether to name the business concerned or not. They may prefer to 'subtweet' as it were, and leave the business name out of the debate. Or they may wish to be raising a wider issue... But, in my view, it is not for other people to assume they know which business they mean.
5) And all of this should be done under the general 'netiquette' guidelines - disagree but don't be disagreeable... (and for the record, in my book, that 'disagreeableness' includes use of any swear words or discriminatory comments of any type such as racist, homophobic etc etc...)
6) When the admin team have been directly or indirectly (via reporting) asked to remove/delete a thread or post - if we choose to leave a thread/post up - that does ~not~ mean we agree with it or that we disagree with it. It simply means that we think that the thread has not broken the guidelines on these pages. We are not responsible for any content that some people think might be libellous etc. And if you don't agree with our decision, you can always report the thread to FB central as it were. Better still, why not try talking with the person in a private message?
... lights blue touch paper....
PS - I am always available to post anonymous responses if the business wishes me to - in order to protect the personal names of some of the individuals involved.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.