Three months is a very long time in the media world without any good news. That is how long it has taken for BP to stem the flow of oil into the Gulf. This brief respite, all be it temporarily while BP tests a new well cap, has caused a huge stir in the twittersphere. I conducted a trending search for the word “Gulf” as I started writing this post and already there have been 6,527 more tweets on this subject by the end of this paragraph.
There has been an eruption of updates made on social media sites including Twitter and Facebook. The bizarre thing is that these updates are being made by individuals and media outlets however yet again BP is lagging behind everyone! The BP Gulf of Mexico Response website, YouTube channel, and Facebook pages have no news except that the well capping project has commenced.
I am baffled that on CNN.com the BP COO is briefing reporters yet the company’s, online presence is not saying anything. Perhaps they are thinking that they can just rely on the public to publish this event for them by sharing information. Most of the tweets I have seen are happy ones.
Even though this is a temporary test to evaluate the fundimental integrity of the well, this is the first time that BP has stopped the flow since April 20th. This is surely a time for at least promoting the effort. I am not suggesting anything like the 2003 “Mission Accomplished” fiasco, however there should certainly be some positive spin being laid out on BP’s behalf.
BP’s media machine has been on full charge recently, however it strikes me that they are failing to exploit a critical moment in the time line of this disaster.
I find this very confusing as well. One main thing companies need to remember is to update their webpage on a regular basis, especially when that company, such as BP, is in the direct spotlight of the media. By just assuming people will post stories about them shows the public, in my opinion, that they are just lazy and see it as an unnecessary procedure. Even though there may be no more oil spilling into the gulf, BP still has a lot of work ahead of them and they should be providing their audience and various publics with updates and news releases.
That’s interesting that BP is not capitalizing on this opportunity to bring attention to their current stop of the oil leak. It seems as though they are trying to stay on top of things with their social media efforts, but are not devoting the full time needed to invest in it. I wonder if the upper management and CEO are not fully behind the social media strategy or maybe they just think there are more important things to do. One things for sure, BP needs to go where the conversations are already taking place and engage with their consumers on their level. And that level is definitely in the realm of social media.