Many large companies monitor Twitter chatter and Facebook posts. They have discovered social media to be a tool for averting public relations disasters. Domino's Pizza deftly responded with a coordinated social media campaign to counter the fallout from a damaging prank. Two employees had posted a disgusting YouTube video showing them engaging in several health code violations.52 Despite initial damage, the company was able to regain its customers' trust and even enlisted their help via social networking to improve the taste of its pizzas.
Comcast, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and others are quick to apologize to irate customers and to correct problems that they discover via Twitter or other social media networking sites. Southwest Airlines employs a six-member "emerging-media team." The former head of social media at Coca-Cola, Adam Brown, now at computer maker Dell, says: "We're getting to a point if you're not responding, you're not being seen as an authentic type of brand.^"53 

Your Task. You are one of three social media interns working for Adam Brown at Dell. Your job is to comb through tweets and Facebook posts to find those that are both positive about and critical of your company and to inform your boss about any that could potentially end up hurting Dell's image. Deciding which post could cause trouble is difficult, given that even with tracking software, you may need to scan hundreds of posts every day. You know that if many users "retweet," or redistribute the news, the problem may get out of hand. Create a Twitter account and search for posts about Dell or any other company your instructor may assign. Make a list of three positive and three negative tweets. Recommend or draft responses to them. If you identify a trend, make a note of it and report it either in class or in writing as directed by your instructor.