If you were paying any attention to “social media” yesterday, then you heard about a real estate property management company in Chicago by the name of Horizon Realty Group.
Yesterday morning I wrote an article about Horizon filing a $50,000 libel suit against Amanda Bonnen, a Twitter user with 20 followers that sent out a Tweet in May. The end of that piece said, “Just watch. The carnage is going to be ugly.”
And ugly it was. A company spokesman saying, “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization” tends to get people talking.
Within a few hours, Horizon Realty became a “trending topic” on Twitter. For those not familiar, that means that Horizon was one of the most talked about topics on Twitter, a service that has millions of users.
You can see the 1,500 most current Tweets about Horizon Realty here.
“Big deal,” you may be thinking. “So a bunch of nerds on Twitter let some company have it. Who cares?”
Horizon Realty should care. Anyone concerned with their companies reputation should care.
However, unless you’re Michael Jackson, and you’re dead, trending topics on Twitter tend to be short lived. Horizon has already fallen off the top trending topic list. In a few days, no one will be talking about them on Twitter.
But the reach of social media goes beyond Twitter.
Let’s take a peek at what else has happened with Horizon Realty in the last 24 hours.
Google “Horizon Realty Chicago” or “Horizon Realty” or any of several variations and you’ll see their (nice) website sitting in the number one position. And you’ll also see 4 to 7 other first page results that refer to Horizon’s propensity to sue first, ask questions later. If you are looking for a property management company “looking to be their client” this may just sway you to look elsewhere.
Go to Yelp, a community-based site where people leave reviews. Yesterday, on the review page for Horizon there were three reviews. Not exactly glowing, there were only three. Today there are 21 reviews, and Horizon is solidly a one star affair.
Google Blog search now shows there are 3,814 blog posts indexed about Horizon Realty. 477 about Amanda Bonnen, and 1,410 pages are indexed that contain the term “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization” (up from 56 at the time I wrote my article yesterday).
Horizon Realty now not only has a mention in Wikipedia on the Streisand Effect, they’ve got their own page on Wikipedia.
Twitter comments may be fleeting. Google never forgets.
To be fair, Jeffrey Michael, a Horizon spokesman / co-owner (and now the proud owner of 2,870 mentions on blogs) issued a press release where he said the “sue first” remark was a “tongue in cheek” comment that was “not in line with our philosophy towards property management and was taken out of context”.
That’s too little too late Mr. Michael. And let’s not blame your incredible PR gaffe on someone in the media taking a “tongue in cheek” comment out of context. You blew it, plain and simple. Your one page press release issued after the shit storm had already blown up ”a press release that really tends to blame the Twitter user” was largely ineffective in stemming the groundswell of negative press your company is receiving.
It wasn’t the original Tweet that damaged Horizon’s reputation. That was seen by a couple of dozen people, tops. And while many feel a lawsuit for a single Tweet is ludicrous, that wasn’t the main factor in tens of thousands of negative comments being made about Horizon. It was the asinine “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization” statement, and the glaring lack of timely follow up and sincere apology that crushed Horizon’s reputation.
Here’s an idea. Short of hiring a social media reputation expert (for which if there ever was a need, this is it) why aren’t you reaching out in the social media space to try to fix this? Obviously you can’t respond to every comment. But you could respond via Twitter, via blog comments, via a prominent, sincere, non-finger pointing at the other guys statement on your own web page (the press release is nowhere to be found if you go to horizonrealtygroup.com).
Go ahead, stick your head in the sand. Blame everyone else. Hope the Twitter stream dies down (it will, although there have been 87 new Tweets about Horizon in the 30 minutes it took to write this). But again, Google never forgets. And if you are a business “especially a service-based business” and you think people won’t use Google to check you out, think again.
Others Opine:
CopyBlogger – What the Horizon Realty Fail Can Teach You About Social Media
Photo Credit: fireflythegreat on Flickr. Creative Commons License.
The Phoenix Real Estate Guy was started by Jay Thompson, and I have a little blogging problem... he liked to say...
This is just another example of how social media is a GREAT tool for people, but it's not your friend if you are a JERK!
What do we think when someone tweets disparaging remarks about someone personally? Do you think it reflects upon the company they work for?
Very interesting. I haven't been on Twitter much these days, so I missed the whole thing. And I didn't know about the Striesand Effect. Good to know. There was a similiar incident in the '40's, when William Randolph Hearst tried to block Orson Welles' film, "Citizen Cain." In the short Hearst was successful. But, in the long run, we're all aware of the episode and the movie.
I think Ines is right. I feel a little badly for Horizon (only a little). I don't think they had any idea the magnitude of what was happening to them until it was way too late. The viral nature of things today, the social media scene, can't be underestimated. When a band writes a song 'United Airlines Breaks Guitars' because they can't get the airline to pay for the damage – and they get 4 MILLION + views of the video, I'd say it's high time that companies get savvy. It's no longer just about a few 'nerds' on Twitter.
I never bought the "any PR is good PR" mantra. Agreed that Horizon had NO IDEA what this thing would do. Telling evidence that every business today needs to understand how social media works.
I follow a pretty simple rule Kevin – never Tweet (or blog) what wouldn't say to someone face-to-face. You can't hide behind a keyboard…
I was sent a link to this post by Steve Zehngut, @zengy, who NEVER sends me real estate related posts. I now know why. This is an excellent case study in how NOT to manage your online reputation.
The tweet is mightier than the sword…I recently used social media to express my intense discontent with Realtor.com's customer service. One tweet and short blog later I received an email from a big wig at the company who included my tweet in his email. After weeks of no resolution and being passed from person to person on the phone, less than 140 characters were my saving grace. Result: an apology and a full refund. I am convinced I would NOT have gotten this if I hadn't tweeted about it and caught the attention of the head of the customer service department.Power to the tweeple!
Jay, I was reading Paula Monthofer's comment and totally agree. Since you are following me (and I U) on Twitter, you already know that Twitter has changed the way I communicate. But, let me weigh in here on what it does for business. This AM I received a call from the President of the National Speaker's Association (5,000+ members world wide) who was introduced to me via one of his members who found me on Twitter. Upon being "found", I attended the NSA conference in PHX and was actually part of the presenter's session on Social Networking. Why? Because I RT'd information about the NSA conference. I also found myself in their blog.What SN brings to the table is the ability of the "community" to work together as a team. To meet people online first, build a rapport, then choose to meet at a Tweet Up, conference, over a brew, or wherever. We are businesses helping each other. The beauty of Twitter is that it builds relationships and cuts through the politics and red tape. Paula's example is the real deal.
Jay, I made my observations in a blog post at <a href="http://www.StevenGroves.com” target=”_blank”>www.StevenGroves.com – I read the response this morning and yeah, they seem a little lost. Their response appears to be 'old media' based (a 'Press Release') and from what I can tell, this may be the first Press Release they've ever posted on their site. Bad luck for them it's about this faux pas , but I suppose we all make our own luck eh?
I agree with "I follow a pretty simple rule Kevin – never Tweet (or blog) what wouldn't say to someone face-to-face. You can't hide behind a keyboard…" works for me pretty well and I'm sure she would have told them face to face she had mold in her apartment.
They say that negative press is better than no press at all – don't know if it applies in this case. Things have changed so drastically with social media that repercusions NEED to be studied carefully – I'm sure Horizon Realty had NO idea the whole ordeal would be taken to such an extreme.
Horizon Realty messed up. As a broker, I would NOT respond to bashing from a tenant on Twitter. Rise above and let the other guy show their backside.
That CEO is a customer service failure, as well as a social media failure. Those combined with this incident may lose him his job. I look up EVERY company that I am going to buy from before I buy it to look for this sort of thing so that I dont buy from a crappy company. They have effectively just killed their reputation.-Tyler
@phxreguy amazing- the story was run on Fox News today and a lawyer said Horizon can use “we were just insulting her” as a defense. WTH? No, that's the problem in the first place, if I were her, I'd sue them in return.
Horizon obviously didn't understand Twitter which is the problem in the first place… imagine if someone like Scoble had claimed mold, they'd flip! It's impossible to say anything is mold free, it's inherent in the air supply of earth. Whatevs, good luck to all involved.
My recent blog post about my home FiOS upgrade (sent to Twitter by MyBlogLog) was a real introduction to corporate tracking. Within five minutes, "Myfiosguydotcom" was a new Twitter follower @dougfrancis… just to make sure that I knew they were on my service upgrade.Let's just say that I was a happy customer who is now at almost 30bs download… and had good service. Tweet!
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just wanted to say I really like your blog!.. you are obviously very talented in writing. keep up the top work
Reutation management is important. The media love anything that enforces the reputation of estate agents as pantomime bad guys and with the speed of things on Facebook and Twitter bad news can travel extremely fast.
This is another social media tool.
Twitter or no twitter, for someone to say "we're a sue first, ask questions later kind of organization" in any public forum, they're just not smart. I mean how could that ever cross anyone's mind as a good thing to say in an argument, or on Twitter.
Can't we just all get along? I don't think either side of this conflict is going to come out ahead. Hot heads are not the best approach to life or business.
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It's impossible to say anything is mold free, it's inherent in the air supply of earth. Whatevs, good luck to all involved.
Thanks for the post. It was very interesting for me to read your article. I understand now how this system works!! But I still use Google. There is no better service than that one.
I think as far as their SERP go the other URL's are linkbait. They will eventually be archived and lose their rankings. As long as they keep their head above water right now, don't chronically put their foot in the mouth they will survive, maybe even benefit from the publicity in the long run. You can never tell how national media attention will influence your business.
I agree with "I follow a pretty simple rule Kevin – never Tweet (or blog) what wouldn't say to someone face-to-face. You can't hide behind a keyboard…" works for me pretty well and I'm sure she would have told them face to face she had mold in her apartment.
After the dust has settled and more facts have come out, it does seem that Horizon Realty may have had just cause to sue Ms. Bonnen in the first place; however, the story quickly became something else since they sued based on a Tweet without making any attempt to deal with the situation through social media themselves. The "sue first, ask questions later" remark, of course, didn't paint the company in a flattering light either. Many apartment industry leaders have had a lot to say about this topic as well. Here is a post on the subject on the National Apartment Association's blog: http://www.naahq.org/blog/lists/Posts/Post.aspx…..
Yikes! I guess the twitter text limit isn't short enough to ruin someones rep.
good.
Some companies just dont understand the impact twitter can have. It is extremely strong because it can spread extremely quick. Your clients can be tainted forever by a bad comment.
Doug Francis will be out of the office and not checking e-mail. If this is urgent, please contact John at [email protected] and he can help you out.Thanks!
Doug Francis will be out of the office and not checking e-mail. If this is urgent, please contact John at [email protected] and he can help you out.Thanks!
Some companies just dont understand the impact twitter can have. It is extremely strong because it can spread extremely quick. Your clients can be tainted forever by a bad comment.