DO FIRMS MANAGE THEIR SOCIAL NETWORK REPUTATION? AN INTERNATIONAL FACEBOOK AND TWITTER STUDY

Social networks are increasingly becoming a dynamic force in firm or brand reputation management. There are numerous examples of how single voices using viral systems have, in a matter of days, reached out to millions about poor service or flawed products. Managing social networks is, however, not without cost (financial or time) and thus it is reasonable to assume that larger companies would have better defined strategies for social network reputation management than smaller ones. These strategies would result in their responding more rapidly and in a more meaningful manner than medium or small companies. The research explores this assumption and offers an integrity management model to replace prior more company focused ones. The social network activities of 189 different size companies taken from the three major world stock markets representing North America (NYSE) and Asia (Hong Kong/HKSE and Japan/TSE) Results supported that larger companies are slightly more responsive but smaller firms seem to respond more quickly. Of interest was (1) the number of firms (of all sizes) without social media site, (2) The high number of firms that failed to respond to site postings and (3) the length of time it took firms to respond. Given the potential negative impacts to brand and company image there appears to be a pervasive lack strategic framework as most firms in the study were not monitoring, integrating or leveraging social media adequately.