JD Wetherspoon, the pub
chain founded by Tim Martin, has deactivated all its social media accounts, on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, forsaking more than 150,000 followers, with
immediate effect.
Ironically, Martin
announced the decision in a tweet that is no longer available, citing the
addictive nature of social media and the worrying tendency of its users to
troll MPs as reasons contributing to his decision.
He added: ‘I don’t believe that
closing these accounts will affect our business whatsoever, and this is the
overwhelming view of our pub managers.’ Instead, Wetherspoon will keep its
customers informed via its own magazine and ‘keeping the press updated at all
times’.
The shock decision was viewed as
pragmatic and a reflection of the changing social media landscape which has
dramatically reduced organic reach. Sharon O’Dea, communications consultant and
co-founder of Lithos Partners, added that managing social media takes up a lot
of resources and may have no effect on Wetherspoon’s bottom line.
She said: ‘In terms
of return on investment, there’s the possibility it is stepping back from
social because it doesn’t speak to the people [the chain] is trying to get
through the door.’
The move follows Martin’s decision to delete Wetherspoon’s
entire database of customer email
addresses last year in advance of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming
on stream next month.
O’Dea added: ‘This is
all bound up with GDPR. What is social honestly doing for your business? If
it’s not clear whether it drives business, the risk is higher than its value.
It’s not unreasonable then to decide it isn’t worth having.’
Social media
consultant Paul Sutton believes the reasons given by Martin are not entirely
what they seem. ‘I personally think it’s because of the way [Wetherspoon] was
using social media. It was seeing very little value because it didn’t appear to
be using it strategically. Because of that, we’re seeing this massive overreaction.
It’s easy to blame fake news and privacy concerns but I think that’s all a
convenient ‘Get out’ clause, covering up the deeper reason,’ he said. ‘In the
same vein, some people have accused it of being a PR stunt but you’re not going
to close hundreds of social media accounts for a PR stunt.’
At
the time of its announcement, Wetherspoon had more than 900 social media
accounts, including those belong to individual pubs. Manchester pub The Bishop
Blaize, which has more than 8,300 followers on Twitter, tweeted: ‘As Per JD
Wetherspoons H/Office Instructions We have been informed to close our social
media accounts. We are disappointed with this decision but respect and follow
the company’s wishes we would like to thank all our followers over the last few
years. Regards Bishops Blaize.’
But quitting social media does not, as O’Dea points out,
mean social media will quit Wetherspoon. She said: ‘People will continue to talk about you on it. The
difference is that by not being on social, you’re chasing the narrative,
instead of being part of it.’
Sutton agreed. ‘I
suspect that a lot of its interaction would have been negative. What they have
effectively done is close off a customer service channel. That is never a good
thing – at least with social, it would have a chance to respond.’
by Laura Stanley
on 16/04/2018
