Reflection on Social Media Case 5: Paypal Deleted Comments

The year, 2011 was winding down and kids were counting down the days until Christmas. Their parents and other generous adults were looking for ways to help make the holidays a little better for the underserved in society. A gaggle of humans who followed Regretsy, a satirical blog by April Winchell, decided to donate to a fundraising campaign she set up to help people who were struggling to make ends meet.

But then PayPal did something they would regret. And then did something else they would also regret, followed by one more regretful decision.

I am sure you are asking why a company would make so many regretful decisions right after another. I am too. But I didn’t come here to give you answers, but merely facts.

And these are the 3 facts, which will now be known as the 3 Bad Decisions of PayPal in December 2011:

1. Early December, 2011: PayPal decided to shut down the charity drive on Regretsy. (And told Regretsy to return all the money to the donors. I know, that part alone could have had its own number, but I am trying to keep things simple.)
1. Why? Because $4,000 in donations came in quickly, which raised flags on PayPal’s end and made them worry about fraud.
2. December 5, 2011: (This one isn’t a bad decision per se, but a poorly planned maneuver.) PayPal posts a completely unrelated post about an article in Forbes featuring PayPal.
1. The internet decides it is a chance to rant about how underhanded and Scrooge-y PayPal is.
3. And what does PayPal do? Oh, you know, they start DELETING the negative comments. Yes, DELETING them.

But, I am going to take your mind for a spin when I tell you that DELETING comments is not going to make angry people feel better! In fact, it is going to make those angry people even ANGRIER!

In the end, all kind of ended well, since PayPal publicly apologized and even went so far as to offer to donate to the charity drive as well (though I could never find verification that they actually did.

I have decided to take away a few lessons from this case study:

·         The internet knows everything. Don’t try to hide stuff and delete stuff because the internet will bring all your past transgressions and anything you are trying to hide will look like a dirty little secret. Be transparent.

·         Negative Reviews give companies a chance to make a good impression. I am serious. A bad review doesn’t immediately mean a bad company or product. If I see that a company has taken time to respond to the negative comments without being defensive, the credibility of that company goes way up. Business Insider has some advice on this as well.

·         Don’t take toys away from poor children. It just isn’t nice.

There you have it. Be honest. Acknowledge when you made a mistake and try to make it right. And be nice. The rules that would have saved PayPal are the same things I am trying to incorporate in my personal life.