Maxis Twitter's trial by fire

It must be tough for corporate communications people having to keep up with social media, which is a relatively new phenomenon and not something taught in PR school.

But some corporate communications units who have dared to venture into this space are learning on the job, the hard way.

The team behind the Maxis Twitter account just managed to avert a public relations disaster when news emerged in the Twitter-sphere that Maxis 3G users could not access Rapidshare.

For the uninitiated, Rapidshare is an online storage service that allows you to upload data files so that others may download it. It can be used for a variety of legitimate reasons. And it can also be used for sharing music, movies and other content that could be a violation of copyright.

It’s not file-sharing in the classic peer-to-peer (P2P) way that was popularized by Napstar, Kazaa and LimeWire. But it’s still a form of file sharing and it’s very popular.

No one knows why it was not accessible through Maxis 3G although conventional wisdom is that the traffic to the service is very heavy and thus congesting the bandwidth.

Whatever the case, the local geeky Twitter-sphere lit up with comments about it. And the comments weren’t too kind, to say the least.

Several people sent notes to Maxis Twitter (www.twitter.com/maxiscomms) seeking an explanation.

Social media-savvy PR practitioner David Lian (www.twitter.com/davidlian) posted “Is it legal for Maxis to censor Rapidshare?”

Lian’s question is pertinent. Just a few months ago, I had a conversation with someone from a local WiMAX-based ISP who told me since most ISPs throttle file-sharing sites like LimeWire or BitTorrent, he just uses Rapidshare because most of what he wants, he can find there.

“If any ISP blocks Rapidshare, they can be sued,” he says.

I’m not sure if that’s true. But it’s certainly a contentious issue.

The Maxis Twitter team (or person) did respond to Lian’s query but by posting a link to Maxis Broadband's fair usage policy!

None of the Twitterers was impressed by that response.

Ben Israel, another social media-savvy PR practitioner replied, “With a response like that, why the need to set up a Twitter acct in the 1st place?” (www.twitter.com/ben_israel)

A few hours later, Maxis Twitter was in crisis management mode and asked people to “Direct Message” them, meaning the queries would not be viewable to the public in Twitter.

So Lian sent them a direct message: "Maxis broadband users can't download files from www.rapidshare.com, is Maxis blocking the site? Answer appreciated. Thanks." It was 10pm by then.

The next morning, he got a reply acknowledging the message and saying there will be a response soon. And a few hours later, a direct message saying, “

Another couple of hours later, I was sent a direct message: “TQ for notifying us. The RP issue has been rectified. Pls contact us via customercare@maxis.com.my if you require any assistance. Thanks :)”

Lian gives Maxis Twitter credit for keeping a cool head in the face of an onslaught of critical Tweets. But he says he would have done three things differently:

1. Avoided posting the first Tweet about the fair usage policy
2. Instead of publicly asking people to direct message Maxis, they should have instead direct message each Twitterer who complained.
3. Follow up with an explanation as to why Rapidshare was blocked in the first place (technical error or a policy mistake?).

I asked Lian what he thought were the main lessons he drew from this saga.

“Technology creates fundamental shifts in the way we communicate,” he said. “In yesteryear, it was blogs allowing anyone to speak his/her mind. Now, it’s social networks increasing the speed we need to respond. Corporations will need to start planning their communications and customer service strategies around the medium people are using.”

However, he cautions that social media should not be viewed as simply yet another channel. “Twitter is different from the telephone not just in medium, but in usage patterns, the types of message that can get across, and whether the conversation is public or private or easily reproducible,” he says. “There’s just a whole new set of factors to take into account.”

For example, should the Maxis-Rapidshare case actually be handled by corporate communications or customer service? “Twitter is too mass and too public for any corporation to feel safe enough to allow traditional 24/7 customer service reps to communicate,” Lian says. “At the same time, which corporate communications person would enjoy working on a 24 hour shift?”

Welcome to the world of social media!

Oon Yeoh is editor for New Media at The Edge. He invites you to follow him at www.twitter.com/oonyeoh.