Social Media Moderation

As we've learned this week, moderation is key to maintaining a fair and friendly social media space. It's up to social media managers to really move conversations along as well as guide them in the right direction. Below, I share how I would answer two examples of negative feedback on social media. 

Hotel customer: “I am disgusted about the state of your restaurant on 1467 Justin Kings Way. Empty tables weren’t cleared and full of remains of meals. It makes me wonder what the state of your kitchen is?!!! Gross.”

My response: “Hi, [insert name here]. Thank you so much for your feedback. We sincerely apologize that our Justin Kings Way restaurant was not up to standard. We have addressed your concerns about clearing tables with our managers and staff to ensure that this does not happen again. We hope you’ll give us the opportunity to make things right, and if you do come in again, please ask for Nhi. I would love to meet with you and discuss this further.”

Mainstream news network viewer: “Your reporting on the Middle East is biased in the extreme. You gave almost all your air time to spokespeople for the Israelis last night and there was no right to reply for the Palestinians. The conflict upsets me so much and your reporting of it, saddens me even more and makes me f**king furious.”  

My response: “Hi, [insert name here]. As a news organization, we strive for accuracy and fairness, and we sincerely apologize if it seemed as though we gave preference to either side. We have passed your message on to our team, and we do hope that you’ll give us another chance. If you have any additional concerns, please contact us any time at [insert email address here]. Thank you so much for your feedback.”

My strategy for both responses was to react as calmly and apologetically as possible while being personable. I think you should always apologize, address specific concerns to show that you read and understood the post and thank the user for their feedback. The second post was a bit trickier because even though the station showed both sides of the conflict, I wanted to avoid further confrontation and did not call it out. Instead, I gave them an e-mail address where they can voice their concerns away from other eyes.