So Financial Regulators allowed for Social Media to be used in sharing and communicating with investors a few weeks back, and now AP get’s hacked!
Via the BBC – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11900474
Via Sky – http://news.sky.com/story/1082096/dow-jones-dives-after-fake-obama-attack-tweet
A paper reviewer on BBC World News this morning, wondered/speculated that maybe this hacker was to hijack the market and make a killing on the stock market – why this assumption or conspiracy theory?
At the end of the day everything is done with the stock market based on results which have to be produced, checked and verified and the same with the news. It is rare that the major story are reported incorrectly – ok, there maybe part of a story that in-correct – and when news was reported via bulletins, we all believed it as it would have been checked prior to release.
Now we have rolling 24 hour news, whilst the main news item is correct, some broadcasters do get caught up on/in the tide of hearsay or gossips from eye-witnesses or nowadays, reports from Social Media, which may not 100% accurate but at least the main body of the story is true.
So, after the attack on AP’s Twitter account overnight and the Tweet being posted say that The White House had been attacked and Barack Obama was injured, the Dow Jones went into a bit of a free-fall/panic by 0.9% before recovering just as quickly. So, if AP is hacked and the market’s panic, is this an example of over reliance on Social Media? Why are we this reliant on it? Why were the markets’ allowed to react on this news without verification? Was it because it came from AP – an organisation people in the know or senior positions always rely on – and thus so it must be true? Or it could be said that each news agency is always wanting to outdo each other, whether it be AP, Reuters, BBC, Sky and Fox amongst many others, so we just rely on the first organisation to report it without checking with others…
If we are to be part of a faster moving world all fueled by our self-reliance based on Social Media – how do we monitor and regulate it? Can we regulate within our company’s environment? Gossip, hearsay, a bad report, can have a massive effect on your business at least 10 times more than good news that you may want to report. How do we regulate this within our company as what are you regulating?
– If you are hacked, was it because your password was not correct in security terms – well can anything?
– Can we make all company news via just one channel? But does that mean we only tweet/update/report at certain times but it comes across as infrequent or impersonal?
– Could we take out insurance against this? Yes we could, but whilst this may cover us and our clients – how do you cover, protect and value damage to your reputation this could cause?
So, interaction is key through this article and the story behind it, but we need to decide on how we move forward. After all, we all are part this tide and we can make a difference, by thinking about what we do and working together to educate each other – or can we?
People are too often too quick to jump on other’s and criticise them without working together and trying understand what that person was saying or trying to explain. So, before you open your mouth or place your fingers on the keyboard, make sure you see the wider picture not see it as a chance to self promote yourself or company!
We can all use Social Media to create a better environment by working together, so let us be a community of one sharing information, support and help thus making our on-line community, one of not just trust but support and assistance to our on-line family.
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