Consumers are becoming increasingly more powerful through the social media. Even the most powerful of organisations can be affected by the acts of a single citizen journalist. The attached article recognises a recent report raised on CNN's iReport. The article concerned, which has since been removed from the site, details reports of Apple CEO Steve Jobs suffering a heart attack. The effects of the article? Apple's stock reportedly dropped ten points. This is a major hit; particularly when considering that the article was eventually disproven.
The ability of a single consumer to create a ten point drop in an organisation's stock value is very real. The individual responsible may have created the article as a means of exploring her 'consumer power'. Conversely, she may have experienced service failings in the past that led to her become suitably dissatisfied with the brand to warrant such action. Although the reasons for the 'attack' are unclear, one thing is certain; organisations must wake up to the threat that consumers pose in an increasingly connected society. If Apple is susceptible to damage through user generated content, then other smaller organisations are equally vulenerable to citizen marketer brand attacks.
I am dubious as to whether the report achieved increased credibility because of its position on CNN, as was suggested in the article. It is my opinion that the location of such information is likely to prove trivial in gauging the credibility of report content. More often than not, the electronic communities of such social platforms as Digg and Twitter represent a collection of the greatest investigative minds on the net. Any stories that contain factual inaccuracies will invariably be identified by the community and exposed as fraudulent.
I am dubious as to whether the report achieved increased credibility because of its position on CNN, as was suggested in the article. It is my opinion that the location of such information is likely to prove trivial in gauging the credibility of report content. More often than not, the electronic communities of such social platforms as Digg and Twitter represent a collection of the greatest investigative minds on the net. Any stories that contain factual inaccuracies will invariably be identified by the community and exposed as fraudulent.
In any case, the report illustrates a clear power shift. The organisation must recognise that control of the brand is no longer in their hands. Remember, a brand is what the consumer makes of it. As we become increasingly more connected, consumers represent those brand which they interact with on a daily basis.
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