MediaPost Publications Is Social Media Turning Us Into Whiner Nation? 10/14/2009

This article asks such a great question: are we turning into whiners? Is that all we do: vent on our social network or blogs before we think of the ramifications?

MediaPost Publications Is Social Media Turning Us Into Whiner Nation?

This morning, I was sifting through Tweetdeck, looking for column ideas, when I came across a link to this site, which calls itself HSBC Reviews. (Thanks, @iboy.) 

Ha! I said. That reminds me of that column idea I had the other day -- about whether social media is turning us into Whiner Nation. Or Whiner World, for that matter -- and whether big, consumer-facing businesses have even the slightest idea of how to synthesize the "information" provided to them by all of these newly empowered whiners.

The answer to the first question is "yes." And to the second? No.

What got me first thinking about Whiner Nation was not even my experience with a certain car dealership, which I wrote a column about several months ago. In that instance, I suffered Twitter remorse for tweeting negatively about them. Had they committed a potentially fatal omission in servicing our car? Yes. But did I find social media tools to be too easy an avenue to vent my frustration? You betcha. At another time, in another world, I would've vented to a friend, one-on-one, over the telephone -- in addition, of course, to trying to rectify the problem directly with the dealer, which I eventually did. In that instance, I realized that the urge to use social media to vent can be the itch that won't go away. That doesn't mean we should scratch it.

What actually got me thinking about Whiner Nation was another bad customer experience I've had recently, with an institution with which my family has done a lot of business. Having suffered the psychological ravages of Twitter remorse over the car dealership, this time I'll keep it between us and them.

However, it occurred to me that the default for a fair number of people is becoming to complain about our mistreatment from Big Business in public. [Read more]