Small World Labs

Remember that old saying "Do right by a customer and they'll tell a friend. Do wrong and they'll tell 100 people."? Well, in today's social media world there seems to be a 1000x multiplier.

Case in point, professional musician David Caroll had a guitar broken by an airline baggage handler (witnessed by everyone on his side of the flight) a year ago. 9 months of back in forth with the airline resulted in no help. All other courses of action stripped away, David took to YouTube to air his grievances via a music video.

Over 140,000 views and a pick-up up on CNN later, I'm guessing a certain airline is wondering how much this PR disaster is worth compared the cost of replacing the guitar. My question is: Would this had occurred if the airline had a customer community where David could have aired his problems before they became a viral hit video?

*Update*

I got a quick ping from a friend who told me that United that recently issued a statement about the video. Interestingly enough, a Google search for United Airlines resulted in the video below being the #3 organic listing and #2 in the news listings. The airline is trying to make things right but the brand damage continues.