Comments on Digital Street Smarts: More on Kevin Smith and Southwest

Point taken- Kevin's a big guy with a big micr...

2010-02-16T15:55:16.082-05:00

Point taken- Kevin's a big guy with a big microphone. But we're not debating his size, his righteousness, or even SWA's policies here. Rather, we're examining how Southwest enforced their policy and then later reacted to the fallout via Twitter. In both areas, they could have done better...

Bottom line is seat is 17" wide and if you me...

2010-02-16T14:11:29.743-05:00

Bottom line is seat is 17" wide and if you measure the last pic of him @ Macworld:

Mic head = 2in
Kevins girth = 22in
http://twitpic.com/13lq4o

This is BS really, the guy is big . My first calculation was being generous, and I assumed the diameter of the handle of the mic to be a standard 1-1/4" and even then he was bulging out @ 15in. That was until I found the specs online for the mic and used some not-so-fancy math to show he's just in denial. Sitting in the tiny seats is uncomfortable as is, sitting next to a big guy is even more. Mix a big guy that bought two seats and has a movie coming out and you have a jerk.

Proves one again, 'there is no such thing as bad publicity'

Thanks for your kind words, Akanksha. I'd have...

2010-02-16T11:46:09.023-05:00

Thanks for your kind words, Akanksha. I'd have to agree that "levity" is probably not at the top of Southwest's PR list right now.

Even if they play it straight, I see an opening for Southwest to create a win-win with Kevin along the basic terms of his proposal. Alas, after reading Kevin's latest blog post from last night, it doesn't seem like that will happen.

When it's all said and done, we can look at this story three different ways: 1) The fairness/correctness of SWA's policy; 2) The operational and customer service elements of enforcing that policy; 3) Best practices for resolving a PR crisis within the social media world.

The focus in the public sphere continues to be on #1, above. For their own benefit, I hope that SWA will be able to look at this through the lenses of #2 and #3 and learn from their mistakes...

Hi, have to admit this is one of the best written ...

2010-02-16T06:28:31.865-05:00

Hi, have to admit this is one of the best written posts I've come across as far as a hot-social-media-case-study goes. Concise and well structured.

I agree with your take on this, Southwest should have tried to lighten the situation and use this as an opportunity to ride on Kevin's online influence. But, i guess while going through the crisis, the last thing Southwest's PR folks wanted to do was get creative and take a risk.

What say?