For Businesses this is one of the biggest debates in regard to social media. Even the most "perfect" organisation will not always perform perfectly in each and every customer's view, and thus, each and every business will at times receive negative feedback. Of course, with negative feedback also comes positive…but, when is it okay to censor comments?
Like anything, there is debates for and against. On one hand, sometimes negative comments can stray into the realm of harassment or be rude or offending to parties involved. In these circumstances, while it is still not something that should be taken lightly…it can be a good idea to censor. On some occasions it is also necessary to remove comments for legal reasons and it can also be inappropriate to have rude and negative comments on social media platforms due to the nature of your organisation.
However, the flip side of this is the argument against censoring…is it unrealistic to remove negative comments from your social media platforms? Does this make it clear that you are merely attempting to paint a picture of a perfect organisation? In my opinion, I believe that too much censoring actually creates more of a negative image for the organisation that allowing negative comments to remain on these platforms and simply dealing with them appropriately. A negative comment that is addressed correctly and appropriately is much more effective than a negative comment that is just deleted. Providing a solid reason for why the behaviour occurred or accepting that what happened was incorrect and then conveying that preventative actions have been put in place to ensure it does not occur again in the future, is not only more effective in terms of those reading the comments on your page but is also a step in the right direction in rectifying the tarnished relationship with the commentor. If you are able to go one step further and provide the commentor with appropriate compensation, which encourages them to publicly acknowledge and accept your apology, viewers are likely to also be more impressed than reading solely positive criticism. This is due to your ability to effectively portray that as an organisation you strive to maintain a high standard, and also follow this standard through into your customer service when things do, on occassion, go wrong.
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