Haters Gonna Hate: Listening to & Talking with the Groundswell

We were only 10 minutes from Logan Airport when we got the text: my brother's flight back to North Carolina had been cancelled.  It was barely 5AM and we were both under-caffeinated (my brother Kyle shares my love for coffee...in fact, his caffeine consumption sparked my dependency).  Together, we decided to just continue on to the airport to discuss getting on to a new flight with the airline staff in person. We would just pop in, reschedule the flight, grab some coffee, and then be on our way.  I don't think either of us were prepared for what we walked into... 

A line that Disney World would be envious of...

The line wrapped around a corner and down a long hallway. JetBlue found themselves in such a pickle that they were forced to cancel all flights from Boston and three New York area airports, just to get back on track.   The numbers were astounding; CNN reported that over 150,000 customers were affected  over the course of a week.  Sure, Winter Storm Hercules and changes to pilot rest regulations fueled the fire that seriously lit up the JetBlue terminal, but these factors did not relieve the pressure coming up from the groundswell.  It was, in part, how JetBlue had positioned itself to listen and talk to the groundswell that saved their butts this time. 

What is Groundswell? 

According to Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, authors of Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, groundswell is...   

a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.  

In other words, you participate in groundswell when you're in the market for a new car and you spend three hours surfing the internet looking at customer reviews, blogs, and posts on the company's Facebook page instead of heading straight to the company's website.

For companies, Groundswell is not a bad thing at all. In fact, Li and Bernoff argue the opposite: "if you understand [groundswell] you can work with it or even thrive in it...it takes knowledge, experience, and eventually, enlightenment."

JetBlue appears to be thriving in terms of groundswell: the company has an active Facebook page, Twitter handle, blog, wikipedia page, a YouTube channel, and an online community called True Blue.

Listening to and Talking with Groundswell
Generally, those who are disappointed in a good or service scream the loudest and those who enjoyed the same good or service cheer with gusto. With the epic cancellations that JetBlue made in the Northeast in the early January post-Hercules storm, people sure were talking and the haters, well, they were hating.  

So if haters are gonna hate, why does listening even matter? Li & Bernoff lay it out for us:

"Marketers tell us they define and manage brands. Some spend millions, or hundreds of millions, of dollars on advertising....We bought this brand, they say. We spent on it. We own it. Bull. Your brand is whatever your customers say it is. And in the groundswell where they communicate with each other, they decide."

Check out their Facebook posts on the days when the $#@! was really hitting the fan:

JetBlue engaged in conversations with customers and offered up waived cancellation fees, airline credits, and other perks in an attempt to make amends. Their Twitter page during the first week of January is equally as interesting and a prime example of listening to and talking with the groundswell:

@MattHoust sent an unhappy tweet to @JetBlue.  @JetBlue responded, which prompted other twitter users to reply as well.  With one tweet, JetBlue was able to respond to an unhappy customer and then converse with supporters. BAM! Double whammy.

JetBlue was able to engage with customers participating in the groundswell during a major PR crisis.  How, you ask? At least in part because they utilized three of the four Techniques for Talking with the Groundswell, as outlined by Li and Bernoff:

1. Post a viral video (which they did not do, but fear not, plenty of news channels covered the mess)
2. Engage in social networks and user-generated content sites 
3. Join the blogosphere
4. Create a community

On that fateful Monday morning in early January, Kyle and I were in line for nearly three hours. Eventually, we got our Dunks and were able to spend two extra days together in Massachusetts.   I asked Kyle his take on the situation and if he will continue to fly JetBlue.  Not only is he loyal (read: stubborn and uninterested in changing his preferred airline), he knew exactly the answer I was looking for to my final question.

At the end of the day, did JetBlue do an effective job handling this situation overall?  The answer to that question probably depends on who you ask and how long they had to wait in line...