JPMorgan forced to pull the plug on Twitter Q&A amidst abuse

Banking giant JPMorgan has been forced to ditch plans to engage with the public on Twitter following a barrage of negative comments, abuse and insults.It is estimated that more than two thirds of some 80,000 tweets sent with the #AskJPM hashtag were negative, according to analysts at Topsy, a tidal wave which forced one of the firm’s most senior bankers to beat a hasty retreat.

#askJPM Given the # of reg violations + scale of fines paid across the bank, please explain why the board hasn't been replaced by livestock?

— Yves Smith (@yvessmith) November 14, 2013

'Jimmy Lee, who helped plan Twitters share sale, had been lined up to take over JPMorgan’s Twitter account today as part of an online marketing event before the scale of online abuse forced a rethink.Thousands of tweeters responded to the invite with some less than flattering respnses; including Kevin Roose who asked: “Quick! You’re in a room with no key, a chair, two paper clips, and a lightbulb. How do you defraud investors?”

JPMorgan's #AskJPM big failure. when doing social media activities, companies need to know reality of their brand. https://t.co/dt4WjUPr44

— Deborah Li (@DeborahDebbyLi) November 14, 2013

Another tweeter, lisa Ansell, added; “Sorry we ruined your hashtag event, if you could just apologise for your plunder of the global economy, I think we’d be even.”Speaking to the FT Debra Williamson, an analyst with research firm E-Marketer, said: “I think companies sometimes forget that social media belongs to the people. Consumers have control beyond their wildest expectations. “Brands spend a lot of money to try to get something positive to go viral – spread a video around or an ad or a tweet – but all it takes is one misstep.”

Does it strike you as odd that your social media team will get blamed internally for this, not the executives who inspire such hate? #AskJPM

— Ned Resnikoff (@resnikoff) November 14, 2013