JPMorgan Chase & Co has cancelled a question and answer session under the hashtag of #AskJPMorgan on Twitter after it was flooded with vicious tweets.
The last tweet from @jpmorgan yesterday afternoon says: “Tomorrow’s Q&A is cancelled. Bad Idea. Back to the drawing board.”
Vice chairman Jimmy Lee was scheduled to take over @JPMorgan today, answering questions about the business.
Still, vicious tweets keep coming in. Tweets such as “Do the cries of starving homeless children ever keep you banksters [sic] up at night?” were still trending this morning.
Another one that has been retweeted several times is: “’Profits after fines are fine’ leaves the general public infuriated. More humility, please.”
One user concluded: “JPMorgan feels the wrath of Twitter – a ‘public stoning’ via the planned #askjpmorgan.
JPMorgan declined to comment.
The financial services industry has long been accused of being too slow to embrace social media, with compliance and legal issues being a major drag.
Communications agency Cicero Group recently released a report on social media in the financial sector, entitled Made in heaven or a marriage from hell?
Its authors say that “the relationship between the financial sector and social media holds many similarities to that between teenagers and sex: many people are talking about it, a few are doing it and those that are, aren’t doing it that well (with one or two exceptions)”.
They say the financial sector is different to other sectors and this is why it is reluctant to engage in social media. One of those reasons is that the marketing of financial products is strictly regulated and the financial crisis has exacerbated industry concern about a potential consumer backlash online.
Other sectors, meanwhile, have used social media in a creative way.
The authors conclude: “Given the turbulent years the sector has experienced and the loss of trust it has felt with consumers as a result, social media can offer the financial sector a new means by which to engage with its customers: to understand them better and slowly rebuild relationships and trust.”
©2013 funds europe
