Social Media Expert Eric Qualman Speaks

Eric Qualman visited Penn State Behrend on Oct. 25 to discuss his book Socialnomics and the overall effects of social media on our professional lives. 

A Michigan State graduate who walked onto the school’s basketball team, Qualman is considered an expert in the field of social media.

“We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it,” Qualman said.

According to Qualman, each person has a “digital footprint.” This footprint consists of everything he or she uploads on social media websites. 

He emphasized the fact that one’s footprint is written in the digital equivalent of ink – it cannot be altered or erased. 

Consequently, we have to exercise good judgment when posting anything online, because it may come back to haunt us later. 

In addition to a digital footprint, each person also has a “digital shadow.” Our shadow consists of anything about us that is uploaded by our family or friends. 

Both our digital shadow and our digital footprint affect the way in which we brand ourselves, and the way in which others perceive us on social media sites.

Qualman defined “socialnomics” as “word of mouth on steroids.” Just as socialnomics can greatly affect individuals, they can also make or break a company. Consumers can either be for or against a company, and social media gives consumers a much larger audience for their praise or criticism of companies. 

Qualman cited United Airlines as an example. When United Airlines refused to replace Dave Carroll’s guitar, which had been broken by United employees, he wrote a song about the experience. The song, called “United Breaks Guitars,” eventually accumulated 15 million views on YouTube. 

The cost of this negative publicity ended up being far greater than it would have been to simply pay for the damaged guitar. In this case, Carroll used Youtube to sell against United Airlines.

 As demonstrated by the United example, what matters most in social media is not what shows up online, but how a company or individual responds to that content. 

Qualman provided two examples, one in which the company handled the situation gracefully, and another in which the company did not.The first example pertained to unflattering tweets by a Chrysler intern. 

Chrysler immediately deleted the tweets and fired that intern. The other case involved tweets by a Red Cross intern regarding beer. 

The Red Cross made light of the situation and partnered with that beer distributor, resulting in an increase in donations. Clearly, the Red Cross had the better “cover up” between the two. 

Overall, Qualman offered valuable insight into the far-reaching effects of social media on both our personal and professional lives.