Most Twitter hackers go after heads of states or companies to stir up some humiliation. The target was Burger King. This wasn't supposed to happen but it can happen to any twitter account. However, the fact that Burger King had apologized was the right thing to do. This has made their followers feel sorry for them instead. In the end, they had regained more followers than losing.
Now that this has happened, Burger King is more cautious of their twitter account password but look at the bright side, Burger King's followers, which numbered around 50,000, shot up to more than 110,000. The incidents had huge and bizarre repercussions. Many users tweeted quips about how hackers “had it their way” with the fast food giant. Actually, if the plan was to send people away from the burger chain, it backfired. In fact, soon after MTV and BET (http://www.bet.com/) actually pretended to have been hacked, apparently just for the publicity.
Burger King responded relatively well given the situation (the incident happening in the early morning on a holiday weekend). The company didn't use its other social media properties to provide an update on the situation, it did manage to suspend its account and eventually get it restored in a matter of hours. Burger King’s well-managed response is a fantastic example of a how a company or organization should be. Thus, Proper social media risk management is the key in combating such attacks.
Article link: http://mashable.com/2013/02/18/burger-king-twitter-account-hacked/
Written by,
Tia Zaini
I can really relate this to the Applebee's case that I wrote earlier. Only this time, proper media risk management was used to solve a crisis. Tia is right when she said how "proper social media risk management is the key in combating such attacks".
ReplyDeleteTo be fair to Burger King, there's nothing much that they can do to avoid such attacks. But the fact that they're not panic and very calm about the whole should be a perfect example on how to handle a crisis.
And OAFEnet had a good point, before the hacked incident occurred, people barely talk about Burger King. So it's not all bad for Burger King. They did get some publicity from this.
Yes, i couldn't agree more with you Syahmi. The 'Best Student' award really fits you Syahmi. Thumbs Up. Burger King management did a great job on not making a fuss out of this. In other words, they did not panic with such attack as they realized that incidents like this might come anytime. Burger King used this opportunity to get publicity from the public and this is one of the way to manage such crisis like this.
DeleteSo similar to the Malindo's case rright. Up till now, i couldnt be happier to read and follow the so-claimed hacked acc cause,..it is just more fun..now to think again tah tah they really saja hack the acc just to permit some casual jokes and informality in communicating with their customers. Maybe lah. We dont know how far people would go these days to achieve success kan.
ReplyDeleteYeahh kan Shila kan. Mana tahu kan.. Haha. Yes, this case immediately reminded me of the recent Malindo case. I mean, the hacker of the Burger King twitter is probably one die-hard fan of McDonalds that can't accept any burger from any other fast food joint, or if we really want to critique from a PR perspective, it could be Burger King just trying to stir up something for their own good. Either way, it definitely brought them into the light from where they were hiding.
Deleteooorrrrr maybeeee, they sengaja create this issue just to get cheap publicity. you know for the malindo's case maybe they were hoping that the public will sympathize them and start purchasing their flight tickets. well people might just do that. after all, business tetap business.
Delete"The account added 5,000 new followers in the first 30 minutes since the hackers took over". Funny to think of this! Maybe for me this is one marketing strategy or just an informal approach by the company. Ethic may be wrong, may be right for individual.
ReplyDeleteBut, if its real the Burger King, its a crisis for them and they should managed it well. Tq.