SEMO
Well-Known Member
I don't think there's anything wrong with Taren wanting to build up her brand and profit from it. To that end, this video may have possibly hurt some of that future brand potential.
Companies are very sensitive to their social media presence (knowing how quickly things can go viral or a company's image tarnished - thereby losing them money).
For example, I had a problem a few months back with UPS customer service giving me the run around on the phone after they made a shipping mistake. I tweeted @UPS expressing my frustration and got a response from a customer service rep less than 10 minutes later asking me to email them (at a dedicated twitter customer service e-mail). And I have almost no twitter followers (so very little influence). But UPS didn't want their brand image damaged on twitter so they sought to remedy my issue.
And I can think of many other examples, in the tech world for instance, of companies responding to issues much more graciously than they would have otherwise in order to protect their brand's online presence.
So, regardless of whether or not what she said was right or wrong, some companies (that she may not have known were even checking her out/vetting her channel) may back away from the table now (which would be a shame since I like Taren). But companies are sensitive about what people say about them and may be scared off, fearing they may become the subject of a future rant.
Edited to add:
I just wanted to add a couple of things to my original thoughts. I watched the video response posted in this thread and it made me think of some things.
I realized that when I expanded my thoughts about vloggers getting paid to do reviews out to other arenas, my opinions weren't consistent.
I have always shied away from reading the opinions of paid reviewers (whether it be for movies, books, etc.). And when a person notes having gotten something for free to review (ex. a book from the publisher), I automatically downgrade whatever rating they give a little, to account for the halo effect.
With that in mind, I can understand why people don't want the youtube reviewer community to go further down the road towards many reviews perhaps being little more than paid sponsorships. When money gets involved, things often change.
Companies are very sensitive to their social media presence (knowing how quickly things can go viral or a company's image tarnished - thereby losing them money).
For example, I had a problem a few months back with UPS customer service giving me the run around on the phone after they made a shipping mistake. I tweeted @UPS expressing my frustration and got a response from a customer service rep less than 10 minutes later asking me to email them (at a dedicated twitter customer service e-mail). And I have almost no twitter followers (so very little influence). But UPS didn't want their brand image damaged on twitter so they sought to remedy my issue.
And I can think of many other examples, in the tech world for instance, of companies responding to issues much more graciously than they would have otherwise in order to protect their brand's online presence.
So, regardless of whether or not what she said was right or wrong, some companies (that she may not have known were even checking her out/vetting her channel) may back away from the table now (which would be a shame since I like Taren). But companies are sensitive about what people say about them and may be scared off, fearing they may become the subject of a future rant.
Edited to add:
I just wanted to add a couple of things to my original thoughts. I watched the video response posted in this thread and it made me think of some things.
I realized that when I expanded my thoughts about vloggers getting paid to do reviews out to other arenas, my opinions weren't consistent.
I have always shied away from reading the opinions of paid reviewers (whether it be for movies, books, etc.). And when a person notes having gotten something for free to review (ex. a book from the publisher), I automatically downgrade whatever rating they give a little, to account for the halo effect.
With that in mind, I can understand why people don't want the youtube reviewer community to go further down the road towards many reviews perhaps being little more than paid sponsorships. When money gets involved, things often change.
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