Olivia: Jackson, if you had to describe the average corporate Twitter account in three words, what would they be? Jackson: Oh, easy. ‘Please. Buy. Our stuff.’ Maybe with a cringe emoji at the end for good measure. Olivia: Exactly. It’s a one-way megaphone. But what happens when the public tweets back? Not with praise, but with pitchforks. That's the world we're exploring today. Jackson: The world where the megaphone gets turned around and aimed right back at the stage. I’m ready for it. Olivia: We're diving into Managing Online Reputation by Charlie Pownall. And Pownall is the perfect guide for this. He's a veteran communications advisor who spent over a decade in Asia, watching these digital fires erupt in real-time. He wrote this book in 2014, right at the tipping point when brands realized social media wasn't just a megaphone, but a minefield. Jackson: A minefield. That’s a strong word, but it feels right. It seems like every week there's a new story about a company getting dragged online for some misstep. What exactly changed to make it so dangerous?

Olivia: Pownall calls it "The New Abnormal." It's a perfect storm of five factors, but the big ones are these: information now travels at warp speed, there's widespread skepticism of big institutions, and most importantly, it's become incredibly easy for anyone to damage a company's reputation. Jackson: Anyone? You mean, not just a major news outlet, but literally any person with a phone? Olivia: Any person with a phone and a grievance. Pownall uses a great metaphor from Star Wars. He says social media is like a lightsaber. In the old days, only the Jedi—the big media, the corporations—had that kind of power. Now, anyone can pick one up. Jackson: A lightsaber in your pocket. I like that. It’s elegant, but also incredibly dangerous. Olivia: Precisely. And there's no better example of this than the story of technology journalist Ryan Block versus Comcast in 2014. Jackson: Oh, I feel a sense of dread already. Any story that starts with "versus Comcast" is not going to end well for someone. Olivia: You have no idea. Ryan Block just wanted to cancel his internet service. A simple request. But he got transferred to a "retention specialist" whose only job was to prevent him from leaving, at any cost. Jackson: I know this person. I think we've all met this person on a customer service call. The one who just will not take no for an answer. Olivia: For eight agonizing minutes, the rep relentlessly grilled him, demanding to know why he was leaving, refusing to process the cancellation. It was a masterclass in corporate obstruction. But Ryan Block did something different. He was a tech journalist, so he had recording equipment. He recorded the entire, excruciating call. Jackson: Oh, he didn't. Olivia: He did. And then he posted the eight-minute audio file online. It was an instant sensation. It got millions of listens. It was picked up by every major news outlet. It was the customer service call from hell, and suddenly everyone could hear it. Jackson: That is the phone call every single person has had, or fears having. He just weaponized it. He took that universal feeling of frustration and made it public. What did Comcast do? Olivia: What could they do? The proof was right there. They were forced to issue a humiliating public apology. Their Chief Operating Officer had to release a statement saying the employee's behavior was "unacceptable" and "not consistent" with their training. But the damage was done. One man, with one recording, exposed the toxic culture of a multi-billion dollar company. Jackson: That’s the lightsaber in action. But that was just one guy with a recorder. What happens when someone puts money behind their anger? Olivia: That’s when you get the story of Hasan Syed versus British Airways. In 2013, his parents flew with BA, and the airline lost their luggage. Syed tried to get help through the normal channels, but was met with silence and indifference. Jackson: The classic customer service black hole. Olivia: Exactly. So, Hasan, a frustrated son, decided to take matters into his own hands. He went on Twitter and paid for "Promoted Tweets." Jackson: Wait, he bought ads? Olivia: He bought ads. He paid to have his complaint broadcast to thousands of people in New York and the UK. The tweet read: "Don't fly @British_Airways. Their customer service is horrendous." It was a targeted attack, using the airline's own marketing tools against them. Jackson: He paid to advertise their failure? That's genius. It's like taking out a billboard to complain directly to your neighbors about the guy next door. Olivia: It was incredibly effective. The story went viral. Mashable, the BBC, and other major news outlets covered it. Suddenly, British Airways, who had ignored his private pleas, was forced to respond to his very public shaming. They found the luggage. Jackson: Of course they did. Once the lightsaber was ignited in public. It’s amazing. These stories show that the power dynamic has completely flipped. The castle walls are gone.

Olivia: Exactly. Individuals learned to fight back. But sometimes, the biggest wounds are self-inflicted. Sometimes, companies hand the lightsaber to the public and point it right at themselves. Jackson: You mean, they try to do something cool and engaging on social media, and it just... explodes? Olivia: Spectacularly. This brings us to the backfiring campaign. And the poster child for this is Qantas Airlines' #QantasLuxury campaign in 2011. Jackson: I'm sensing another airline disaster story. Olivia: You have no idea. The timing was everything. Qantas was in the middle of a massive, bitter industrial dispute with its unions. They had grounded their entire fleet just weeks earlier, stranding thousands of passengers. Public anger was at-a-boil. Jackson: Okay, so not the ideal time for a feel-good marketing campaign. Olivia: You'd think. But their social media team decided this was the perfect moment to launch a Twitter competition. They offered a prize of a luxury Qantas pajama set and amenity kit. All people had to do was tweet their idea of a "dream luxury inflight experience" using the hashtag #QantasLuxury. Jackson: No. You cannot make this up. It's like asking for a compliment right after you've set the house on fire. What happened? Olivia: What do you think happened? The hashtag was immediately hijacked. It became a global platform for people to vent their fury and mock the airline. Tweets poured in like: "#QantasLuxury is getting your luggage back" or "#QantasLuxury is a plane that takes off" or my personal favorite, "#QantasLuxury is being flown by a pilot who isn't worried about being fired." Jackson: (Laughing) Oh, that is brutal. It’s a masterclass in what not to do. What were they thinking? Or were they not thinking at all? Olivia: That’s the million-dollar question. It was a complete failure to read the room. They were so focused on their marketing message that they were blind to the public mood. But this kind of hijacking isn't always accidental. Sometimes, it's a surgical strike. Jackson: You mean, it's planned by an outside group? Olivia: Precisely. Which brings us to Greenpeace versus Nestlé in 2010. Greenpeace wanted to pressure Nestlé to stop using palm oil from suppliers who were destroying Indonesian rainforests, the habitat of orangutans. Jackson: A noble cause. But how do you get a giant like Nestlé to listen? Olivia: You don't attack the corporation. You attack its most beloved brand. In this case: KitKat. Greenpeace released a shocking, professionally made parody video. It shows an office worker opening a KitKat, but instead of a chocolate wafer, he bites into a bloody orangutan finger. The tagline was, "Have a break? Give orangutans a break." Jackson: Whoa. That is... visceral. I can picture that perfectly, and I wish I couldn't. Olivia: It was horrifying, and it was brilliant. It went viral. Nestlé's Facebook page was flooded with over 200,000 angry comments. People started changing their profile pictures to a "Killer" version of the KitKat logo. The pressure was immense and relentless. Jackson: And did it work? Olivia: Within two months, Nestlé caved. They severed ties with the problematic supplier and partnered with The Forest Trust to achieve "zero deforestation." It was a total victory for Greenpeace. As Pownall quotes in the book, one activist said that for environmentalists, "Targeting brands was like discovering gunpowder." Jackson: That's fascinating. So the Qantas story is a case of accidental corporate self-destruction, while the KitKat story is a planned, surgical strike. But in both cases, the weapon is the company's own brand. Their identity is turned against them. Olivia: That's the key insight. In this new abnormal, your brand isn't just what you say it is. It's what the public decides it is. And they can hijack it at any moment.

Jackson: So, after all these horror stories, what's the big takeaway? Is the answer for companies to just delete their Twitter accounts and hide in a bunker? Olivia: It's tempting, but Pownall's point isn't to be afraid, but to be prepared. The old world of top-down, controlled messaging is gone forever. Reputation is no longer a static shield you polish in a boardroom; it's a volatile, real-time conversation that you are a part of, whether you like it or not. Jackson: So you can't control the conversation, you can only participate in it. Olivia: And you have to participate honestly. The book uses a fantastic quote from Abraham Lincoln: "Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." For decades, companies focused on polishing the shadow—the PR, the advertising. Jackson: But now the tree itself is on full display. Olivia: Exactly. Your character—your actual actions, your customer service, your supply chain, your ethics—that's the tree. And in the social media age, the shadow of that tree is massive, and it's cast by the light from millions of those little lightsabers in people's pockets. If your tree is rotten, no amount of PR can hide the shadow. Jackson: So the only real defense is to have a strong tree. To actually be a good company. Olivia: That's the core of it. And to listen. To really, truly listen to the conversation that's already happening about you. We'd love to hear from our listeners—what's the most epic brand meltdown you've ever witnessed online? Let us know. Jackson: I have a feeling we're going to get some good ones. Olivia: This is Aibrary, signing off.