Wal-Mart Fails At Social Networking
Wal-Mart’s attempt at setting up a social network aimed at teens was a miserably failure and was shut down after less than three months. Why was it such a failure you might ask? Well “The Hub” as Wal-Mart called it was supposed to let teens “express their individuality”. However, Wal-Mart screened all the content, informed parents when their children joined and forbade users to e-mail one another. Who great idea was this? There is no way that social site with these types of restrictions could ever be successful.
Filed under Brand Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization : Comments (4) : Oct 8th, 2006
October 8th, 2006 at 11:10 pm
[…] Unlike Wal-Mart, both Nikon and eBay get social media and understand how to use the power of social networks to help improve their brand awareness. […]
October 9th, 2006 at 7:32 pm
I can see it … 10 grey hair, 60+ execs, creating a social place for teens. Their arguments? … “I have more kids than you, I know what they want”
November 9th, 2006 at 9:40 am
[…] You would think that companies would learn from the social media marketing mistakes that Wal-Mart and GMC have made. But obviously the marketing department at Virgin Money does not read this blog. […]
July 25th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
[…] Wal-Mart’s previous social media attempts included a MySpace-like offering aimed at teens was a miserably failure and was shut down after less than three months. It failed mainly because Wal-Mart screened all the content, informed parents when their children joined and forbade users to e-mail one another. Wal-Mart tried again earlier this year with a travelogue “blog” that it was forced to stop when news got out that the blog was created and paid for by its PR firm. […]