It's been noted that Crappy Tire will have garnered about 900,000 facebook "Like" by the end of the summer, and that the number of recorded 'Boycotters" is only about 200 (as recorded over a couple of months, in this little corner of the internet).
This could be construed as possibly indicating that Canadians are actually fond of Crappy Tire.
However, there are a number of factors to consider:
- CT has been recording Likes for many years, while the Boycotters have only been tracked for a couple of months (so there are sure to have been many boycotters in the past).
- There are likely to be many, many times this many Boycotters recorded elsewhere on the internet, and even more go unreported.
- All the "Likes" CT has garnered are recorded at this central web page, but the boycott are scattered among sites, emails, etc.
- There is no reason that CT would never cancel the "Like" someone gave them, but they have been frequently observed deleting critical post from it’s site, including boycott pledges. So, facebook Likes are overstated but facebook boycott notices are understated.
- It is extremely easy for someone to simply click on a button without much investment in CT at all; however, it takes time and effort to compose a post/email describing a complaint. So, facebook likes show a long level of commitment, but a boycott notices show high commitment.
- Consumers are routinely given an incentive to “Like” CT, such as entry into a contest or a coupon of $5-$15. But a consumer who posts a boycott notice often gives up a chance to enter a contents or get a benefit. So, Likes are encouraged, yet boycotts are discouraged.
- Clicking “Like” isn’t completely anonymous, but it cannot easily be determined which facebook users clicked Like. However, by posting to the facebook page a web site, anonymity is broken (the name appears in the post. Again, Likes are encourages; boycotts are discouraged.
- CT Spams Canadian Facebook pages in order to prompt users to “Like” them; but there is no organized campaign to prompt Canadians to “boycott” CT.
- There is no need to (or even opportunity to) state a reason for ‘Liking’ a company; but a pledge to boycott a company is generally accompanied by a detailed list of reasons. Thus less weight should be given to a Like, and more to a boycott notice.
- There is little passion evidenced in a “Like”, which could be fanatical loyalty, or just a ‘sure, why not?’ action; posts announcing boycotts are typically fervent, passionate and heart-felt.
In light of the above observations, it should be clear that the Facebook Likes are not only over-stated, but represent a much lower level of commitment and passion on the part of the consumer.
On the other hand, a impassioned, detailed Boycott Notice, posted with personal effort and possible risk, on this site and others, should be given a great deal of weight indeed.
Not that the Crappy People will every admit that.
After all, we've seen how they respond, both on this web site, and on their own facebook page, where they deal with complaints quite easily:
Ignore or delete? Must be a tough choice ... but certainly easier then actually fixing their clearly-broken stores!
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