Social media can often quickly take a business up or down in a snap.
In these days there is a new viral negative wave against a firm involved in a huge scandal: Volkswagen. What has happened and what has the social media reaction been?
According to Bloomberg, thanks to the investigations of the International Council on Clean Transportation, it has been found that Volkswagen has been cheating on road emissions tests on American cars that in European labs had resulted to be approved. However, American emission standards are more stringent than European ones, for this reason the company decided to carry out the same European test in the USA in such a way to brilliantly pass the test. The company has been accused of having installed a device that, thanks to a particular algorithm identified, when the vehicle was being examined, limited the harmful emissions in that particular circumstance. Much more than a fraud is involved in the happening; corruption, manipulations, sanctions and severe health concerns complete the framework.
Most of all Volkswagen and Germany’s reputation are gone: the myth of technical perfection and efficiency has precipitated along with the company’s share price.
The scandal has raged a storm also on social media; the days following the news the hashtag #Volkswagen has appeared in one day in 26000 tweets, while on Youtube more than 200 videos have been published on Dieselgate (source Sole 24ore). The most visualized (9000 views in one day) video has been posted by “The fast lane”, an automobile portal, and it has gone viral the following day through the users’ share. More than the 74,3% of the online content has had a negative impact, according to a study conducted by Reputation Manager. Regarding the analysis of comments, 37% of them are negative, counterbalanced by a positive 29% that defends the brand history and competence.
Let’s go back to only 2 years ago now. The absurd is that analyzing social media, including Facebook, Twitter and several blogs, Volkswagen has always been considered to have the highest reputation with respect to other auto- makers as Fiat or Toyota in Italy. For instance, an accurate analysis conducted by Reputation Manager showed that the share of voice showed that the 31% of conversations concerned the total quality of the car, so its technology, safety and reliability. Then, the other 14% was about the environmental impact and 15% about design.
If we take a broader perspective, from an economical point of view, the crisis worsens: there could be impacts not only on the brand but on Germany’s export and PIL. Consumers have always had a special regard for German products, willing to pay a higher price because of the extreme trustworthiness, seriousness and value of their industrial culture.
The case has not been solved yet, governmental authorities are still investigating and we will see what the evolutions will be. As a matter of fact, it arises the importance of constantly monitoring carefully the web and social media contents in order to measure the impact of the crisis in terms of image and business.
*Source image: Wallpaper Okewae.com
