Possible Perils of User-Generated Content [Video]

This week on the Magnet Minute, I talk about the possible perils of asking for user-generated content.

It sounds like a great idea at first. You think: “let’s invite our Twitter followers to ask questions and we’ll answer them on the spot.” Or “let’s have them tweet photos using a promoted hashtag.” The goal is to get enough followers to tweet and retweet that the brand establishes a trending topic and gets free exposure.

There’s just one big problem: the Internet has no filter, no set decorum, and no accountability.

National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell learned this the hard way when he started a Twitter hashtag, #AskCommish, inviting fans to pose questions about the league. While there were a few decent inquiries, many followers used the invite as a way to express their opinions of the commissioner, with questions like: “Mr. Goodell – as a feckless multi-millionaire who shamelessly shills for billionaires, have you considered a run for Congress?” and “How do you govern a league with your head buried deep in your ass?” Fortunately for the commissioner, the NFL brand is strong enough to withstand this sort of embarrassment.

The New York Police Department ran into the same problem last month when it asked followers to post photos of officers using the hashtag #myNYPD. It wasn’t long before the Twitter-verse submitted photos with myriad accusations of police brutality.

In 2012, McDonald’s created the #McDstories hashtag, asking customers to share their favorite McDonald’s memories. The company yanked the campaign after two hours when it received hundreds of “memories” of fingernails found in burgers and bouts of food poisoning.

That’s not to say you can’t ask for user-generated content. You just have to be strategic about it. Opening the floodgates invites every wannabe comic and disgruntled customer to damn your brand in order to boost theirs. Instead, asking for user-generated content should be done in such a way that you can moderate and maintain some control over your brand image.

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