A Response and Recommendations to the 2011 Qantas Social Media Disaster

Student’s Last Name 1
Management Communication
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University
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Student’s Last Name 2
To: Qantas Management
From: Olivia Wirth
Subject: A Response and Recommendations to the 2011 Social Media Disaster.
On the 23rd day of November 2011, Qantas’ efforts to offer promotions via the social
media turned disastrous as users hijacked the tag used for the promotion to hurl insults to the
airline (Stieglitz, Bruns, and Krüger, 2015 p.920). Quoting the Qantas’ official Twitter account,
followers were asked this question; “What is your dream luxury inflight experience? (Be
creative!) Answer must include #QantasLuxury." It is, perhaps, worth mentioning that this
disaster came a few weeks after the airline was forced to offer apologies for conducting a Twitter
competition which required sports fans to go blackface so as to win free tickets (Yin, Lampert,
Cameron, Robinson, and Power, 2012 p.54).
Actions to create a positive brand perception
It is worth admitting that Qantas failed miserably in addressing the situation; the
company somehow overlooked the prevailing disaster. One of the strategies that the company
should have taken is to examine the comments made by the followers, take full responsibility of
the mistake, and finally let the people know that the problem is being addressed (Xie and Peng,
2009 p.60). For instance, the company should have offered free or discounted flights to the
passengers who fell victim of the fleet grounding. It is essential for companies to study what
social media users think about the organization and apply various management strategies in case
mishaps are detected. Multiple studies have been conducted to give companies like Qantas

Student’s Last Name 3
solutions to disasters. The studies have also outlined the various activities that companies should
take so as to rebuild a tarnished image.
Moving into the future, Olivia Wirth (the executive of Government and Corporate Affairs
at Qantas), should consider taking full responsibility for the Twitter disaster and also offer a
public apology on the same matter. Besides, this Qantas should take advantage of every
opportunity to rebuild its ruined image. For instance, each year sees more and more students in
need of scholarships, others in need of sports sponsorship, others in need of donations such as
books, and so forth. Qantas should, therefore, consider capitalizing on such worthwhile
opportunities to make the people forget about the disaster (Karl, 2013 p.75). In addition, the
company needs to seek the services of an experienced PR company that can monitor the
activities on the social media platform and hastily turn things around if such an incident reoccurs
in future
Three important factor to consider when using social media
Notably, social media offers organizations a chance to create a rapport, converse with the
audience, and accomplish roles effectively (Koufaris and Hampton-Sosa, 2014 p.755). Many
companies, including Qantas Airline, have acknowledged that social media has great potential as
evidenced by the significant number of campaigns initiated year after year. In the midst of all
these bounties, however, there is tragedy lurking if organizations do not take caution when using
social media. As a consequence, I have identified three essential factors that Qantas needs to
consider during the usage of social media.