There are two basic tenets of Social Media 101 when your brand has been attacked: Be fast in responding and be transparent.
On Monday evening, more than 24 hours after MG Siegler savaged Expedia.com for allegedly botching Siegler's Valentine's Day hotel reservation through a waylaid faxed booking and confirmation, Expedia.com -- to the best my knowledge -- has uttered nothing about the incident on its blog [actually it doesn't have one], on Twitter or Facebook.
On Monday afternoon, Expedia.com did issue a statement to Tnooz and perhaps other press outlets vowing to get to the bottom of the incident.
But, consider Expedia.com's social media response more than 24 hours after Siegler's post, which has drawn 158 comments and 489 retweets on TechCrunch alone.
What did the online travel agency, which is running an expensive offline advertising campaign under the theme, "Where you book matters," tell its more than 24,400 followers about the incident?
Nothing.
Zilch.
In fact, @Expedia, as of this writing on Monday evening, hasn't tweeted anything since Feb. 12.
OK, it's Presidents' Day today, a federal holiday, but attacks on your brand can happen anywhere, anytime and a global brand needs a rapid response team at the ready.
There's also been no word about the Saturday night booking-gone missing from the much smaller @ExpediaInc account, which hasn't tweeted anything since Jan. 29.
These days there is a raging debate within the travel industry about social media. Many hotels, airlines, cruise lines, and rental car companies don't really believe in it, are timid or are just beginning to toy with it. There are more important priorities where the return on investment is more visible, some believe.
Expedia.com, despite having a following to die for, apparently is among those entities yet to really buy into social-media.
Expedia's Facebook fan page had nothing to say about the "Bloody Valentine" either.
Expedia basically ceded the social-media airwaves to its critics, who have been making the Expedia brand bloody.
Even if Expedia doesn't know all the facts behind the incident 24 hours later, the online travel agency might have tweeted something like this:
"TechCrunch post is upsetting, we have a team en route to hotel, we'll make sure if we were wrong this won't happen again. Stay tuned."
Meanwhile, let's do some compare and contrast.
While Expedia.com has avoided any social media commentary of its own, @SouthwestAir was practically tweeting apologies to director Kevin Smith [aka Silent Bob] --who was led off a Southwest jet because of his weight --practically before the staff got him down the aisles.
In fact, this evening, @SouthwestAir posted "My Conversation with Kevin Smith," and spokeswoman Linda Rutherford acknowledged: "Although I’m not here to debate the decision our Employees made, I can tell you that I for one have learned a lot today. The communication among our Employees was not as sharp as it should have been and, it’s apparent that Southwest could have handled this situation differently. Thanks, Kevin, for your passion around this topic. You were a reasonable guy during our conversation."
Compare that bit of humanity from Southwest with Expedia's being missing in action.
In addition to its lack of speed in defending its brand in social media, Expedia.com's transparency and candor in its press statement appeared, well, challenged.
Expedia's statement read: “Obviously this is a high-profile case, but the profile doesn’t dictate the response. [my italics]. The details do. I am sure that they are going to do everything possible to try and make things right but can’t offer any particulars right now, since the internal investigation – which is being led at the highest levels – isn’t complete."
Had the incident not been disclosed in TechCrunch and not received any publicity, would the incident really have triggered an investigation "at the highest levels?"
Incidentally, Siegler lacked a little transparency, as well.
Why did Siegler not disclose the name of the property and the town where the botched booking allegedly took place?
If you are going to detail an alleged crime, you are required to reveal the crime scene.
It's a basic tenet of Social Media 101.