@Northwestel’s Low Blow

http://robulack.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/northwestels-low-blow/

Excerpts

"... Too often, though, [Facebook is] erroneously viewed less as a social platform and more as a marketing one. That's the mistake that Northwestel makes with their approach to Facebook, obviously at the company's peril.

Time and again Northwestel fails to recognize this. Too often its customers have made efforts to begin a dialogue on Northwestel's page, only to be stonewalled or invited to directly contact the company's service reps and take the conversation offline.

[...]

It's clear that Northwestel finds itself out of its element on Facebook and, as a result, is getting a supreme ass-whupping there. It's sort of painful to watch, as though a circus clown wandered out into a rodeo stadium just after a cowboy fell off a bull. It's gruesome. And it gets uglier every day. When I discuss Facebook with people I cite Northwestel's page as a textbook example of how not to do it.

[...]

the company has committed the lowest blow: it's sicked Facebook on the telco's own customers. George Lessard has posted a detailed description of Northwestel's actions over on his blog, @Northwestel tries to quash criticism by intimidating protesters. To sum it up, the company has threatened to have the protest page shut down and its owners kicked off Facebook if they don't remove the image I've included with this post.

[...]

What Northwestel did is the rough equivalent of kicking a competing player between the legs when you don't like how badly you're losing the soccer match. ..."