Firms now more aware of blogger backlash

MANILA, Philippines - Irate customers are turning to the Internet to get back at companies rendering poor services, writing blogs and spreading e-mails about their experiences with a new-found source of consumer power. Firms like Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Cebu Pacific Air, often the subject of angry entries, are so far treating the blogger backlash as a minor concern considering that the Internet is hardly a source of accurate information, but acknowledge that it is a problem nonetheless. Internet penetration in the Philippines is relatively small but experts note that those who have Web access are also those who have the spending power. Nielsen Media Research estimates point to some 200,000 local bloggers to date, from just 40,000 in 2007, amplified by the popularity of social networking sites where pages can be created quickly complete with photos, video, and instant reactions. The number of local Internet users is expected to rise to 24 million this year from 14 million in 2006 and only two million in 2000, with access and personal computers becoming cheaper and more accessible. New technological trends, blogging in particular, are inevitable and uncontrollable, said Ateneo de Manila communications professor and marketing expert Nanette Franco Diyco. "It’s a very modern form of communication. It’s very interesting and people can do it with terrific freedom. But by its very nature, it can be abused," she said, pointing to a surge of negative write-ups about products and services. She cited the possibility of companies employing "bloggers" to write positive things about them as well as the danger of some businesses actually hiring people to write negative blogs about their competitors. "It’s very open to sabotage. If you really analyze it, it’s open to lack of ethics. This is a challenge to companies but not really a public relations (PR) disaster. It can be counteracted by other PR activities or communication," Mr. Diyco said. Globally, people now tend to rely more on consumer opinions on the Internet than on television and radio advertising, said US-based Forrester Research, Inc. In a new book published by Harvard Business Press, Forrester analysts describe the phenomenon as a "ground-swell." "Customers are writing about your products on blogs and recutting your commercials on YouTube. They’re defining you on Wikipedia and ganging up on you in social networking sites like Facebook. These are all elements of a social phenomenon — the groundswell — that has created a permanent, long-lasting shift in the way the world works. Most companies see it as a threat," authors Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff write. For Cebu Pacific and PLDT, negative blogs do not spell a marketing disaster but are a PR concern. PLDT spokesman Ramon R. Isberto said the company, while aware of bloggers criticizing its "unreliable" Internet service PLDT myDSL, was finding it difficult to rein in tide of negative opinions. "There’s nothing much you can do about it. You can’t control the blog. What you can do is to respond to whatever complaints are being aired and communicate with the persons airing the complaints. It’s a customer service issue," he said. But blogs can also be a source of information to help address customer service issues. "It’s a PR concern. As in all PR issues, what matters is not the problem but how you respond to it," Mr. Isberto stressed. The virtual attacks seems to be more persistent for budget carrier Cebu Pacific, with bloggers often complaining of delayed or cancelled flights and the difficulty of getting refunds. Some vow never to fly Cebu Pacific again despite bargain seat prices. Jacinto "Jon" Limjap, Jr., who has a blogging platform at http://blog.kapenilattex.com, said entering "Cebu Pacific experience" in popular search engine Google will quickly result in a flood of negative blogs about the Gokongwei-led company. The blog entries were written by people who don’t know each other and were only looking for avenues to voice their concerns, he said in an interview. "Blogging is a doubled-edged sword which can be a powerful tool to disseminate information and get feedback but it can definitely be abused. Some could use it for character assassination or to defame a certain company. But then again, we should also consider the other side — many of the concerns may be valid," Mr. Limjap said. The write-ups don’t go unnoticed, Cebu Pacific Vice-President for Marketing Candice A. Iyog said. The company actually reviews blog entries, both positive and negative, to get information and help improve products and services, she said. "It’s a PR concern in itself but to actually make it a PR concern that we act on directly, maybe not. Blogs are forms of self-expression, there’s no way of controlling it. It would be ridiculous to come up with plan to control it. It’s hard to base an entire PR campaign just on blogs," she said. Cebu Pacific prefers that complaints be sent to "proper avenues" such as feedback forms or letters. "Blogs are good source of information — if you want to see what people are talking about but to make it your sole source of data gathering for product enhancement would be a bit lacking. Our main focus is on complaints directed to Cebu Pacific," Ms. Iyog said. Early this month, a contest was launched for bloggers to write about tourist destinations in the Philippines and their Cebu Pacific experiences, offering free round-trip plane tickets. The rules, however, state that blog posts "must not contain negative reviews of the airline or any harmful content pertaining to the airline in any manner." "There’s really propaganda. I’ve seen other successful blogging campaigns like those of SM Hypermart and Coke Zero, which did not have the same stipulation. Obviously, the contest was meant to counter negative feedback about them," Mr. Limjap claimed. Cebu Pacific spokesman Don Romulo Gregorio T. Orense said "It’s not a Cebu Pacific contest," but admitted that it was a sponsor of the blogging platform which organized the tilt. At the end of the day, new media outlets can always work to a company’s advantage, Ms. Diyco said, adding companies who know better won’t even bother to respond to negative blogs. "It’s a minor PR problem. There are good things about these blogs but they’re also dangerous so readers should be cautious and should not believe everything they read unless they’ve experienced it themselves," she said. For his part, Mr. Isberto said he was also counting on people who frequently go online to spread word if a company is able to resolve a certain concern. "Hopefully word will get around, too, that we are doing our job so people get a balanced view. But we have to remember that in today’s world, technology is a fact of life, it’s something we all have to face and respond to," he said. Mediaquest Holdings, Inc., owned by the PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund, has a minority stake in BusinessWorld.