McDonald’s Lebanon Invites An Israeli Tweep For A Coffee
McDonald’s Lebanon (@McDonaldsLeb) invited an Israeli citizen, Jeremie Berrebi (@jberrebi), to have a McCafe this morning on Twitter. To make this clear: This is not a political post, this is about a social media failure.
Listening is very important in the digital world and it should be part of your social media strategy. However, this should be made efficiently and strategically and here we talk about “Active Listening”: You should listen carefully to what the community is saying/demanding and check carefully who are the authors before engaging in a conversation. A prior check is not only required to spot a fake account but, also to get demographics info and position the user in (or out of) your target audience.
This story reflects the “dark side” of digital automation: It all started with a Lebanese tweep who published a paper.li tweet automatically tagging Jeremie Berrebi. [Paper.li is an automated content curator that will create an e-newspaper aggregating articles shared on Twitter. Those tweets also include few names of users featured in the publication.] Another Lebanese user, not featured in the automated publication, replied (in a humorous tone I suppose) that this “issue” needs a cup of coffee. And here is where McDonald’s Lebanon, that seems to automatically reply to local users mentioning coffee, entered the conversation by suggesting to all three of them to get a McCafe. The fast food chain restaurant didn’t take the time to check who they are talking to and thus didn’t realize they are inviting an Israeli tweep, who is randomly there due to automation, to visit one of their branch in Lebanon which is impossible for him.
A bit complicated? Let’s make it shorter: J. Berrebi, an Israeli citizen was automatically tagged in a tweet that led to a conversation in which McDonald’s Lebanon invited him and other Lebanese people for a McCafe.
And here is what Berrebi replied:
This would still be a social media fail if it was a European or Australian person but, we can’t deny that it is more dangerous for a business in Lebanon to interact with Israeli. The tensions between the two countries are quite important and a big part of the Lebanese citizens would be annoyed by this.
McDonald’s Lebanon’s social media activity is handled by Think Media Labs that proved to do a good work for McD on Facebook but it seems they need to be more careful on Twitter.
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The JR Express 
I think sometimes, just sometimes, we need to cut people some slack. Yaaneh at points it feels like everyone on social media is just lurking for someone to slip and haunt them down for it.
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Hi تي,
As I clarified in my article, this is about social media and more specifically SM automation. I am not bashing McDonald’s nor making a fuss out of it, this is just an interesting case to illustrate a point I would like to make on what I called the “dark side” of automation.
I do agree with you that many times bloggers just wait for someone to slip and make a fuss out of it. That’s not my case and I always make sure I avoid doing so.
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The comment was not for you specifically, but general for the “Gurus” who are gloating.
I notice you don’t usually blog spam 😉
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Indeed many self-proclaimed “gurus” are just looking for slips to attack people or businesses…
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In a logical world, we are only a 2-hour drive from Tel Aviv… we look like them, they party like us, we would get along!! Too bad the powers that be can’t make it happen- it could’ve ended all the problems in the region 30 years ago
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[…] Nice find by Jad. […]
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Oh yes, they did worst than this, check out this tweet https://twitter.com/chemali/status/370910100728201216
What is funny, is that the company who is handling their account is giving social media seminars. Isn’t that funny ! LOL BIG FAIL
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Bro, get a life. This happens in online media. That doesn’t make them any less good at what they do. I’ve been to the companies trainings before, 1 word for you amazing! How about you learn half of what they know and then talk as much as crap as you want.
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One word Gurus!
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Honestly, what you are doing is discriminating, and attacking such social media will do you know good. Nothing has been said wrong at all, and this just proves that McDonald’s social media DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE, while you are the one who is discriminating.
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Hi Jessica, no one talked about discrimination.
I already clarified that this is about social media strategy not politics. I am talking here about social media automation and its possible negative consequences if done poorly. This is just a case to illustrate the point.
It has nothing to do with discrimination.
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[…] McDonald’s Lebanon Invites An Israeli Tweep For A Coffee (thejrexpress.com) […]
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[…] McDonald’s Lebanon Invites An Israeli Tweep For A Coffee […]
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