Will privacy scandals derail social media monitoring?

The market for social media monitoring tools has been growing rapidly, with more than 200 products currently available, and the tool is seen as an integral component of social media strategies, enabling firms to monitor public conversations about their brands to gauge sentiment and, if necessary, respond to boost levels of customer care.

General Motors, for example, doubled its team of social media agents in March this year in a bid to become more proactive in responding to customers’ online gripes and burnish its tarnished post-bankruptcy image. And the vendors named in the Mail article also emphasised that they used the software to turn potentially negative situations into positive ones. An easyJet spokesman told the newspaper that: "When they [customers] realise we are trying to help, they are quite surprised and positive."

Carphone Warehouse said that customers were "often blown away" that it was listening and were "overwhelmingly positive" about the experience. BT added: "We are not picking up on anything private. These are all discussions that can be seen by anyone on the web. I would liken it to someone having a conversation in a pub – it’s just a very big pub."

However, in the wake of scandals surrounding the likes of Facebook and Google, the public is extremely sensitive to issues around privacy. The Daily Mail has a history of attacks on social media, with the latest article coming weeks after its now infamous piece titled How using Facebook could raise your risk of cancer. But it also has a reputation for stirring up moral outrage amongst its audience, which numbers some two million. As such, a campaign against social media monitoring feeding privacy concerns could have huge implications for both the tool and social media strategies at large.