A classic PR case study: “Hi Bert, which items of furniture do you, in your humble opinion, think people should burn first this winter?

Two incidents in the past week have highlighted the dangers of businesses treating social media as a stand-alone communication channel that sits separately from the company’s core business.

The first will no doubt become a classic PR case study. On the day that British Gas chose to announce significant fuel price rises, its PR department went ahead with a  planned Twitter Chat, hashtagged ‘#askBG’. The team had billed it as an opportunity to ask questions of the Customer Services Director, Bert Pijls. The timing simply couldn’t have been worse. The twitter storm that ensued was huge, as disgruntled consumers used the opportunity to post tweets such as:

“Hi Bert, which items of furniture do you, in your humble opinion, think people should burn first this winter? #ask BG”

Hi Bert, which items of furniture do you, in your humble opinion, think people should burn first this winter? #AskBG

— Lee Vincent (@LeeJamesVincent) October 17, 2013

Is it cheaper for me to burn £20 notes than put the heating on his winter? #AskBG

— Mark Meddings (@meds1973) October 17, 2013

#AskBG what exercise is best to keep elderly people warm this winter? And when you were kids did you have a conscience?

— Daniel Jillings (@djillings) October 17, 2013