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September 22, 2005
Online posting angers doctor
In the service industry, you live and die according to your reputation (in the product industry, well, you always have a chance to launch Version 2.0). If people start to talk bad about you, close business, and move on. If they talk positively about you, open your wallet and enjoy - but don't forget to upgrade your offerings, otherwise the competition overtakes you.
In former times, way before the Internet, well, it was more about word-of-mouth and seven degrees of separation. Like, bad news travels fast, but there was a limit based on geographic space and time - well, it took a while to travel, but it travelled as well. In the Internet time, everything changes - anybody can open a webpage, a blog, leave a comment somewhere and start talking bad. We are humans, after all, and we live according to what we believe. We really believe that we see the world correctly, and well, misunderstandings happen.
So there is this doctor in US - to be specific, a William Boothe, who happens to be an ophthalmologist (what is that??) in Texas. He saw that "one disgruntled former patient was posting his complaints on the Internet (TLC), he launched an aggressive response. He sued for libel and other claims, and earlier this year a state judge ordered the material removed from the Web."
The story is a bit longer than presented here, but the message is basically, that one needs to take care. Why? Because things don't simply disappear anymore, as they tended to in "earlier life." Bad news can be good news and generate enough publicity in certain cases that carries over to better times. But in general, bad news stays on in the Internet. And spreads. Like a virus. As this posting shows. People pick it up from somewhere and here it goes on, and on and on. So better take care about what you write, how your write, and how you conduct yourself. Don't care attitudes don't necessarily work anymore.
Posted by Andreas at September 22, 2005 08:34 PM
Comments
TRUE!!!!!
It's all about services marketing, services recovery, Good management-customers-suppliers-distributors relationship.
All above contribute your brand recognition.
It will affect your brand awareness and perception.
I TOTALY BELIEVE IN GOOD SERVICES MARKETING.
Posted by: viv at October 1, 2005 07:10 AM