In Finland, the latest social media fury was stirred up by economic crime investigators Anne and Jutta. In a social media campaign against the underground economy where entrepreneurs avoid taxes and other fees, these officers warned people on Facebook and Twitter about the risks of six-euro pizzas. At that price, the investigators charged, it’s highly unlikely that the vendors were paying the required fees and taxes. The campaign drew a lot of negative response. People saw the police as taking the side of the restaurant association while ignoring the price manipulation and tax optimization that big businesses use. Instead of going after the big guys, the cops seemed to be targeting vulnerable small entrepreneurs—many of who are immigrants.
So what went wrong with this social media campaign? Any time people try to harness social media purely to push a product, a person, or an issue, they’re setting themselves up for failure. Such a campaign is like a robocall: a one-way, inflexible delivery of someone’s message. Even the campaign’s replies are canned, delivered without taking in the previous discussion, let alone the nature of the channel. Instead of learning from similar social media gaffes, single-issue advocates keep trying to apply the outdated Magic Bullet model of communication to new media.