The BlackBerry messenger crash that lasted for three days attracted a lot criticism on the social media. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter were replete with customer complaints and queries for resolution of the issue.

Millions of BlackBerry users worldwide were left in the dark with prolonged interruptions of their messaging service – the BBM and email capabilities. The problem spread from Europe to Latin America, Africa, Middle East, India and also to North America. The server problems had originated at Research in Motion (RIM)’s UK data center on Monday, October 10.

Research in Motion did release a statement blaming a “core switch failure within RIM’s infrastructure” but said nothing further on the continued problems.

Almost everyone from high-roller business men to celebrities posted their frustrations and made “Dear BlackBerry…” a trending topic on social networking sites, especially Twitter.  In such a scenario one would naturally expect a company of RIM’s stature to react and placate the fuming consumers. This was important as most of them threatened to switch smartphones. The timing could not have been worse as Apple’s iOS5 and iPhone 4S are unveiled in the same week and both got very positive reviews from industry experts. Such developments along with the diminishing sales of BlackBerry phones in the last two months were really bad signs for the once all-mighty RIM.

However, despite the strong criticism, RIM’s Twitter page remained relatively quiet and posted barely two tweets in three days. RIM’s founder – Mike Lazaridis – has recently apologized to the BlackBerry community and posted a video message on Thursday that says, “We know we’ve let many of you down. You expect more from us. I expect more from us”.

The problem has been resolved finally but the apathy with which RIM dealt with the issue did tarnish its reputation. There is one thing that the inclusion of social media on crises management has taught businesses – honesty and speed are the keys to success. There has to be response to every bad or good news that concerns the organization. This is all the more important when the problem has such as huge magnitude. In the case of RIM, the BBM crash impacted the users in five continents.

Probably some people including the executives and managers at RIM thought that the problem was less than what the people were describing on social networking sites. But the fact is that millions of users (both corporate and personal) WERE affected. It was not as trivial as a ‘messenger service’ not working. There were users who could not access the Internet, send or receive emails and access data on their phones. It was good on part of Research in Motion to resolve the issue in 3 days but it was its responsibility to be more proactive in reacting to the posts on social media.

Blackberry failed to deal with their blackout crises because of its inability to understand the potential of social media for a business. The message that finally came from Mike Lazaridis on Twitter was expected a little earlier to say the least.

Better luck next time :-)

The first speaker in this session is Icelandair’s Guðmundur A. Guðmundsson who begins with defining what a brand actually is. It is far more than a logo — and extends to staff attitude, telephone hold music and even what people are saying about you online.

From Icelandair’s point of view, what customers want is a brand with a clear promise which can also come through on their promises. Through social media, companies like Icelandair can broadcast their story like never before. Also due to social media, your brand is going to be defined and gain reputation online — whether or not it is led by you. That is why brands should take their online presence so seriously.

The traditional consumer funnel appears to be falling apart; with new research suggesting that as they move down the “funnel” they are actually adding more possible brands to choose from and not zeroing in on one. This is an opportunity for marketers to push their brands as something new and different.

The post-purchase stage is a new area which goes way beyond word-of-mouth between friends. Online reviews and social media comments (among others) are becoming an important way to spur further purchases from others. This works equally for airlines, face creams, televisions and all sorts of products and brands.

Guðmundur suggests that companies need to reconsider their advertising spending and where it is focused. 70% of traditional advertising budgets are currently focused on the wrong areas of the “funnel”.

Is social media all you need? Well, it might be if you do it well. But it is unpredictable and can be your worst enemy if not done properly.

Following on from Guðmundur, the next speaker to take the stage in this seminar session is Liana “Li” Evans from LiBeck.

Li begins by pointing out that not all social media users are equal. People get involved to greatly differing degrees. The creators, for example, are top of the tree: they have blogs and websites and really drive the field. The ladder runs down through critics, collectors and joiners and down to spectators and inactives — the people who interact least with social media; but it doesn’t mean they can be ignored. They are still there and taking notice of what they see.

Only 1% of social users are considered heavy users and 90% are classified as ‘lurkers’. Whoever you are, it is important to not concentrate solely of Facebook and Twitter. There is so much else out there; from Wikis and LinkedIn to YouTube and MySpace. As well as the direct users, search engines like Google also care about all these social media outside of the Big Two.

Li also recommends the power of email as an enduring draw. If they are on your mailing list, the chances are they like you and want to hear from you! This is a great driver to build an audience for your Facebook Page (for example).

On the subject of integration, it is becoming vital to remember the awesome and growing power of the smart phone. They are quick and convenient and people are using them more and more. At the end of the day social media marketing should be part of a unified and targeted overall marketing programme.

Following Li’s address, the floor was opened to questions.

One of the key themes of the question session is on knowing your customer base and spreading yourself over more than just Facebook and Twitter — a sentiment even endorsed by Rick Kelley from Facebook!

Sheryl Sandberg COO of Facebook gave a speech at the Consumer 360 conference claiming that Facebook could survive without email. She said “”In consumer technology, if you want to know what people like us will do tomorrow, you look at what teenagers are doing today, and the latest figures say that only 11% of teenagers email daily. So email (I can’t imagine life without it) is probably going away. So what do teenagers do? They SMS and increasingly they use social networking.”

The question is Could Facebook Even Survive Without Email?