Mashable has some interesting thoughts on how to deal with a community when the community has a problem of some kind with you. The answer isn't hard: it involves more communication, quickly. It's just like Jeff Jarvis' "Dell Hell" thing from a few years ago - if you don't respond early, you let other people define the way the problem will be seen. That's ultimately how Microsoft dropped the ball on Vista promotion - they allowed Apple to set the terms under which people would view Vista.
The speed at which these things move reminds me of a movie title: "The Quick and the Dead". You get to pick which one you want to be if you get a social media storm headed your way.
Technorati Tags:
marketing