An Open Letter About Disney Social Media Moms, Or How To Use Twitter Positively
Actually, this post is for any brand/company/organization who wants to engage with their audience via social media and avoid the backlash facing SXSW and Disney. Prompted by a story in the New York Times this weekend about backlash to SXSW attendee tweets, I noticed the same thing happening in real time at the Disney Social Media Moms conference in Orlando. There was the same prevalence of tweets using the event's hashtag (#disneysmmoms) about goodie bags and private parties creating a culture of exclusivity at the expense of knowledge sharing.
I wrote about this trend and received an outstanding number of responses - both positive and negative, and many more that were sent privately via DM or email. Those who agree echoed the high school cafeteria analogy and many appreciated the cocktail party litmus test concept. Those who disagree were nearly all folks who attended the event itself and took issue with the notion that attendees should "police" how they use Twitter or that event attendees should not "share the joy". Some missed the point and thought I was against moms getting swag. But what was most interesting to me was the large number of folks who reached out to say that they feared agreeing publicly.
I received messages from mommy bloggers (many of whom attend conferences like this) who urged me to probe further about what is NOT said on Twitter and Facebook for fear of retaliation and exclusion in the mommy blogging world. Although I have understood that the world of mommy bloggers is especially viral, it would appear that several such bloggers are almost collusive in promoting an inner circle making it difficult to achieve a high online ranking if one doesn't "play nice". I'm not a mommy blogger, so this will have to be the subject of further research and another post or perhaps a book. But honestly - haven't we moved past the cliques of high school?
Professionally, I run the digital and media practice of a leading marketing agency, and I travel around the country speaking to companies about best practices in social media. In the spirit of sharing these social media best practices, here are some guidelines to help you at next year's #DisneySMMoms event or at any live event in which social media plays a part (which these days is all events):
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