Monitor Others’ Failures and Successes

Micheal Corleone (The Godfather Part II) said it best when he said to keep your friends close but your enemies closer.  Successful business operations do not exist in a vacuum.  Part of running a successful business means staying informed of developments within and outside your industry.  Such “listening” assists in identifying opportunities and avoiding pitfalls.  According to Radian 6 blogger (www.radian6.com) Trish Forant in a June 2011 post (“Keeping Tabs on the Competition“), “one way you can gain that edge is by using social media to listen to, and about, your competitors in real time.”

 

A social media listening program, AKA social media monitoring solution,  is nothing more than the setting up a computer program to find social media content – blog postings, Facebook comments, Tweets, etc. –  that mention key words and phrases of interest.  Typical key words and phrases include your company’s name, location and other business specific terms.  However, just as important as tracking conversations that involve your company is tracking conversations that involve your industry and your competition.

Social media listening programs provide two main benefits to any organization.  First, by actively monitoring events that affect your industry you can learn about the successes of others within the industry and use that information to benefit your organization.  For example, through a social media listening program an organization can learn about the successful marketing techniques being used by a competitor across town or across the country.  That information can then be used to enhance the organization’s own marketing program.

Equally beneficial is the use of social media to listen for and discover adverse events that affect the industry and competitors.  Through a listening program it is possible to determine that certain practices within the industry are resulting in legal action or referrals to regulatory authorities.  Having this information early enough can help your organization take preventive action and avoid negative publicity and legal action.

For example, assume that a debt collection firm utilized the review of publicly available information on social network pages of delinquent borrowers when performing due diligence on the borrowers.  Now assume that news was released on a blog that in a neighboring city, county or state, a judge found such practices illegal.  The discovery of this information provides the organization with the opportunity to evaluate its collection practices to implement any necessary changes to prevent potential legal issues.

Monitoring others’ successes and failures provides the organization with an early warning system.  Through the monitoring process the organization can identify trends – positive or negative – as they form.  This process will assist the organization in making appropriate changes to policies, processes and training to prevent adverse outcomes or to take advantage of opportunities.

Blogger Debbie Hemley in an April 2011 post (“15 Ways to Monitor Your Competitors’ Use of Social Media to Gain Social Intelligence“) on GigCoin.com (blog.gigcoin.com) provided the following 15 tips relative to monitoring  the social media activities of competitors.

1.      Whether or not your competitors were early adopters of Social Media or if they’ve joined in later in the game? Are they playing catch-up? Or do they appear to be making leaps ahead?

2.      How many followers and fans do they have? Are they working at expanding the numbers or did they simply put up the pages and are now passively working at maintaining them?

3.      Are they responding to blog comments? How long does it take for them to respond?

4.      What topics are your competitors writing about? For instance, you can use this to find the holes in their content so you can develop a more comprehensive content strategy.

5.      Where do your competitors have a presence on social networking platforms? Blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube? When was the last time they updated?

6.      Are they using video? What do you like about what they are doing with video? Where can your videos stand out?

7.      Monitor popular keywords within your industry. Are your competitors writing about those topics?

8.      Look at their company profile on LinkedIn, do they have dedicated social media people within their departments?

9.      Are they actively using social media to market their business?

10.  How often do they write blog posts? Who writes the posts?

11.  Are they using share widgets? How can your readers help to spread your content more effectively?

12.  Have they fully integrated their social media presence? Do they have the links to the pages on their corporate website?

13.  Are they using Facebook contests or sweepstakes? Are they offering good prizes? What can you do that will be more enticing?

14.  What type of content are they sharing on Twitter? Their own links? Are they sharing news worthy stories from other sources? Are they retweeting, using hashtags, @replies? Can you have a more notable presence on Twitter?

15.  Are they responding to questions and comments on Facebook comments? How long does it take them? Do they appear to have dedicated staff monitoring their pages? Are they using Facebook for customer service and support?

There exist dozens of companies offering social media monitoring solutions.  Some are free, many require some expense and some are quite costly.  The main determinant in deciding on a particular social media monitoring solution is complexity of the organization, budget available and management’s expectation. 

In their January 2011 SocialMedia.biz blog post (“Top 20 Social Media Monitoring Vendors for Business”), J.D. Lasica and Kim Bale provided a list of their top 20 social media monitoring solutions.  According to the authors, “the online landscape is saturated with more than 200 tools and platforms claiming to be able to help you track and assess mentions of your business or brand in social media channels.  While there remains a lot of churn in the field, a number of listening platforms have evolved to help you go beyond basic monitoring into an integrated approach that helps inform multiple parts of your business: product development, customer support, public outreach, lead generation, market research and campaign measurement.”

Regardless of the social media monitoring solution chosen, a good place to start is with a simple Google Alert.  Through the free Google Alert service it is possible for any organization to easily and quickly track key words and phrases on the Internet, including those on social media platforms.  This information is useful “as is” and may also assist during the implementation of more robust social media monitoring solutions by providing the type of information that currently exists relative to your organization, competition and industry.

For example, an alert using the search terms “social media,” “failure” and “debt collector” will inform the user when an Internet article occurs that mentions social media failures that involve debt collection.  Multiple Google Alerts can be set up to cast as wide of a net as necessary.  These alerts will provide ongoing information that will make it possible to identify events and trends that may further mitigate risk or result in greater success. 

Of course, all this great information requires that the organization assign the task of “listening” to someone that can provide a meaningful interpretation of the information and provide an effective reporting to the appropriate individuals.

While gangster Michael Corleone had it right regarding keeping tabs on the competition, it was clergyman William Pollard’s comments that are most germane when it comes to social media monitoring solutions when he said “information is a source of learning.  But unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people in a format for decision making, it is a burden, not a benefit.”

Social Media Primer for Debt Collectors

Before discussing the pros and cons regarding the use of social media in debt collecting it is important to provide a primer on social media.  This post provides a brief history of social media, the types of social media in use, the reasons why social media has become so popular and the role that social media can play in the debt collection process.

Social media was born from the combination of the Internet and social marketing efforts that resulted in a form of marketing that utilizes Internet-based tools (the “media” part) for sharing and discussing information (the “social” part). At its most fundamental level, social media turns Internet users into creators of content (“user generated content”) through various forms of interaction.  User generated content includes, but is not limited to, user profiles, comments, videos, blog posts, wiki entries, photos, online reviews and location-based information.  All this information is posted on social media platforms and, with the exception of “private” information, is generally available for the benefit of the Internet community.

The ability of ordinary Internet users to create and consume customized and highly relevant content has made social media the Internet’s rock star.  The effect that the democratization of Internet content has had and will continue to have on culture and society should not be ignored.  This point was not lost on Robert Scoble and Shel Israel when they stated in their book, Naked Conversations (John Wiley & Sons, 2006), that “culture cannot be overestimated when discussing social media.”

Social media has transformed both the personal habits of users as well as the workplaces in which these individuals operate.  Studies have found that social media has significantly altered the manner in which people communicate with each other.  Social media affects how individuals make decisions, socialize, learn, entertain themselves, and do their shopping.  Social media has also created an environment that values honest and transparent communication.  Mashable.com’s Adam Ostrow stated in a March 2009 blog post ("Social Networking More Popular Than Email") that “by the end of 2008, social networking had overtaken email in terms of worldwide reach.”

On social media platforms individual privacy has taken a back seat to more intimate sharing of personal information among friends, family - and at times, perfect strangers.  According to Sarah Mitchell in an April 2011 blog post on SocialMediaToday.com (“Social Media and Your Privacy”), “social media is designed to encourage people to abandon privacy.  We connect with people we don’t know and we do it often.”

Privacy and consumer advocates claim that the use of social media by debt collectors is an invasion of privacy and a form of harassment.  These opponents of social media usage claim that consumers are not sufficiently sophisticated to understand how to appropriately protect themselves and as such, debt collectors should not be permitted to use social media platforms in the debt collection process.

However, to the extent that the information posted by a consumer is “publicly available,” proponents of social media usage as well as developing case law, support the notion that that the use of this information is permissible and does not violate privacy statutes as there should be no expectation of privacy regarding publicly displayed information.

Regarding harassment, supporters of social media as well as the Federal Trade Commission argue that the FDCPA has made very clear those actions that violate the law and result in harassment.  Therefore, as long as collectors abide by the letter and intent of the FDCPA, their use of social media is a permissible practice.

There are many types of social media sites.  Blogger Linda Fulkerson classifies social media sites on her blog, On Blogging Well (www.OnBloggingWell.com), into 23 different varieties.

·       Social Networking Sites:  These sites focus on building relationships among people.  Common social networking sites include Facebook.com and MySpace.com.  Social networking sites provide collectors with the richest source of social media-based information.

·         Microblogging Sites:  These sites deliver content in short bursts.  The most popular microblogging site is Twitter.com, which delivers information in messages of no more than 140 characters.  These sites can provide debt collectors with up-to-date debtor information such as current whereabouts, employer, activities and future plans.

·         Professional Network Sites:  These sites are a combination virtual business card holders and social networks.  These sites enable users to recommend connections, share information about industry-related events, post resumes, and other features that relate to professional matters.  The most popular professional network site is LinkedIn.com.  These sites are helpful in providing debt collectors with current employment information.

·    Blogs:  These sites include personal and corporate online journals.  Many corporate blogs are maintained by the organization such as Microsoft’s IEBlog (http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/) or Vons Today at Vons blog (http://community.vons.com/t5/Our-Blog/bg-p/swy001).  Other corporate blogs are maintained by public blogging platforms such as WordPress.com, TypePad.com, and Blogger.com.  Personal blogs may include valuable information about a debtor’s lifestyle and whereabouts.

·         Video Sharing Sites:  These sites allow users to upload and comment on videos.  The most popular video sharing site is YouTube.com.  Some people use these sites as video blogs that may provide debt collectors with useful details.

·         Social News Sites:  These sites accept and distribute news stories by users.  One of the most popular social news sites is Digg.com.

·         Social Measuring Sites:  These sites measure the quality of content that exists on the Internet.  A popular social measuring site is Technorati.com.

·         Social Bookmarking Sites:  These sites allow users to share, organize, and search bookmarks of web resources.  A popular social bookmarking site is delicious.com (formerly del.icio.us).

·         Social Q&A Sites:  These sites allow users to submit questions or answer questions.  Two popular social Q & A sites include Answers.com and Yahoo! Answers (anwers.yahoo.com).

·         Photo Sharing Sites:  These sites allow users to upload and comment on photos.  Popular photo sharing sites include Flickr.com and Twitpic.com.

·         Social Search Sites:  These sites are social media-enabled search sites where users can create communities.  The most popular search sites are Yahoo.com and Google.com.

·         Niche Communities:  These sites have evolved from message boards into full-fledged communities.  Niche communities are focused on serving individuals with specific needs, such at Match.com for singles and Classmates.com for school alumni.

·         Social Email:  Social email platforms include Google Buzz.

·         Comment Communities:  Popular comment community Disqus.com describes itself as a platform that helps users build an active community from a web site's audience.

·         Regional Social Media Sites:  These sites are geographically focused.  An example is Examiner.com.

·         Podcasting Communities:  These sites are social networks that connect podcasters, advertisers, and listeners.  An example is Blubrry.com.

·         Blog Networks:  These sites are similar to niche communities.  These sites are comprised of blogs that address specific topics such as technology, politics, etc. Popular blog networks include Gawker.com, Jezebel.com, and Gizmodo.com.

·         Blogging Communities:  Blogging communities encourage bloggers to share and interact with one another as well as create regular blog posts. Popular blogging communities include BlogHer.com and LiveJournal.com.

·         Presentation-Sharing Sites:  These sites allow users to share their presentations.  The most popular presentation sharing site is SlideShare.com.

·         Content-Driven Communities:  These sites, referred to as “wikis,” provide and collect encyclopedia type information.  The most common wiki is Wikipedia.org.

·         Product-Based Communities:  These sites are tied to electronic commerce sites where goods are bought and sold.  These communities allow the exchange of information related to the products and services that are being bought and sold.  These communities are known for providing ratings and reviews as well as provide question and answer forums.  The most popular product-based communities are Ebay.com and Amazon.com.

·         Review & Recommendation Sites:  These sites have features similar to those on product-based communities.  However, these sites are not necessarily associated with products or services.  For example, TripAdvisor.com relates to travel and Shelfari.com relates to books.

·         Social Media Sites that Defy Definition:  This category relates to sites that cannot be easily classified.

Different social media platforms appeal to different social media user segments.  In a March 2011 blog post (“Facebook Demographics Revisited – 2011 Statistics”) on SocialMediaToday.com, Ken Burbary noted that 35% of U.S. Facebook users were 18-25 years old and an additional 20% were 26-34 years old.

A similar September 2010 blog post (“LinkedIn Demographics and Visitor Statistics“) on BooleanBlackbelt.com noted that 38% of LinkedIn users were 35-49 years old and an additional 32% were 50+.  As such, Facebook appears to be the best social media platform for finding debtors under 35 years of age while LinkedIn appears to be the best social media platform for finding debtors 35 years old and older.

From a debt collector’s perspective, the widespread use of social media and the transformation from a private and closed society to one of transparency has created opportunities.  As social media users become increasingly open, transparent and comfortable sharing personal information within the social media universe, an increased amount of valuable information will continue to surface on debt collectors’ radars.  Such information includes location, employment, income and lifestyle details.  

This information, combined with information obtained through traditional methods, can increase a collector’s effectiveness.  Access to this information, however, does not come without its risks.  As such, debt collectors must understand the requirements and pitfalls associated with social media use.

Introduction to the Social Media for Debt Collectors Blog

There is no question that social media use has become ubiquitous.  There are hundreds of millions of users logging onto one or more social media platforms every week – and in some cases daily.  As such, it is no surprise that industries have been hard at work determining how to best make use of social media and its often-frequented social network communities (e.g., Facebook), that comprise the largest segment of the social media universe.

Facebook claims over 500 million active users, Twitter processes over 155 million tweets per day and LinkedIn maintains over 100 million registered professionals.  According to a February 2010 release by Pew Internet (“Social Media and Young Adults”), 72% of young adults and 40% of people over 30 use Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms.

A January 2011 release by eMarketer Digital Intelligence (“Facebook Drives US Social Network Ad Spending Past $3 Billion in 2011”) states that in the United States “marketers will spend $3.08 billion to advertise on social networking sites this year.”  According to the report “spending will be up 55% over the $1.99 billion advertisers devoted to social networks in 2010 and will rise by a further 27.7% next year to reach nearly $4 billion.”  It is no wonder that organizations are looking for ways to leverage what social media brings together - people.

One industry that believes that it has found a great use for social media and social networks is the debt collection industry.  Increasingly, debt collectors are finding social media helpful in obtaining debtor information.  Through social media, debt collectors can track down a debtor’s home and work locations, lifestyle information, lists of friends and family, and information related to whether a debtor has the financial wherewithal to make payments on a defaulted debt.  Debt collectors also find social media useful in communicating with debtors.

In a November 2010 Charleston Daily Mail interview (“Florida Woman Claims Debt Collector Harassed Her On Facebook”), Amy Webb, CEO of Maryland-based Webbmedia Group, stated that “the reality is that debt collectors, law firms, private investigators - you can come up with a long list of people - are using Facebook as well as geo location networks such as Gowalla and Foursquare to track people down.”

Unfortunately for debt collectors, social media has its drawbacks - drawbacks that can lead to legal action, regulatory criticism and reputational harm.  Plaintiffs’ attorneys are beginning to develop an interest and expertise in social media and have begun to file social media-based lawsuits.

According to Ed Winn III, general counsel for the Association of Progressive Rental Organizations, “courts, lawyers, collectors, consumer advocates and government agencies are adapting the existing collection laws to this new world of communications.”

Suzanne Martindale, staff Attorney for Consumers Union and Susan Grant, director of consumer protection for the Consumer Federation of America, in a May 27, 2011 letter to the Federal Trade Commission, stated that “new technologies can increase both efficiency and accuracy in the debt collection process by improving information flow between original creditors, debt buyers and consumers and facilitating dialogue between debt collectors and consumers.  However, reasonable safeguards must be put in place to ensure that the use of newer technologies prevent consumer abuses throughout the debt collection process.”

According to a November 2010 ABC News interview ("Women Sues Debt Collector Over Facebook Messages") with David Cherner, legal counsel and director of state government affairs for the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals, "there are certain ambiguities in the [federal Fair Debt Collections Practices Act] that create risks for debt collectors to communicate with consumers in certain ways.  There needs to be debate about modernizing the law so that consumers can be communicated with how they choose.  I think there certainly needs to be a broader debate about communications with consumers.  The FDCPA was enacted so long ago and consumers communicate in so many ways and, not only that, but they want to be communicated with in so many ways."

In an MSNBC.com interview (“Debt Collectors Troll Facebook — Are They Going Too Far?”), Florida attorney Billy Howard, head of the consumer protection department at the law firm of Morgan & Morgan and a leading figure in social media-based litigation, calls social media "a dangerous weapon" that some debt collectors use to deliberately harass people.  According to Howard, "they're using Facebook because it adds that extra shock value. The more shocking, the more harassing, the more outrageous, the more these debt collectors get paid.  What makes it so dangerous is you can contact somebody's family and friends very quickly and very easily, and you can set off a domino effect of panic that can be devastating."

Opinions for and against the use of social media in the debt collection field are growing.  And with the initiation of the first social media-based lawsuits, the risks are also growing.  This risk is increased by a lack of regulation addressing the use of social media in the debt collection industry.  Therefore, over the short term much of the guidance that will develop will largely result from developing case law.