Day 2 - Data analysis

I have now printed out the first batch of primary source data of the Facebook wall posts and have started to analyse using a simple coding system to help identify any patterns/themes. So far have been surprised that the level of conversation has been diverse, ranging from the angry, hysterical, mob-like responses that were so hyped up in the media to genuine fans of Nestle pleading with it to halt its perceived unethical practices. Some individual's have also shown a well informed understanding of the debate. The media portrayal of an unthinking, mechanistic, and mob-like protest has been somewhat exaggerated from what I can see so far...

Spent the morning reading an article which I think will be really important for structuring my final paper - R.Kelly Garrett's Protest in an Information Society: A Review of Literature on Social Movements and New ICT's which provides a useful framework for explaining the emergence and development of social movement theories across a wide range of disciplines such as sociology, political science and communication.

Notes and observations

Framing processes
Feel this is an important point to consider how Greenpeace was able to frame the issue or 'tell the story' in a way that was engaging and compelling to the public. The 'anti-globalisation' message is not a new theme and has been used in activist strategies in the past.

Levelling the playing field
Again this theme comes up when we discuss new media and social media technologies. "By lowering costs and increasing opportunities for communication, new ICTs (information and communication technology) provide the largely passive support base a low-intensity forum for issue-based communication, potentially strengthening their identification with the movement."

"Micro-contribution strategies"
This case study demonstrates that very small contributions can be effectively aggregated to achieve a net result. Garrett explains that in the past coordination costs have outweighed the benefits of these small contributions, but new ICTs can be used to lower costs. He mentions the 'click and give' websites that are used for fundraising as another successful example.

Intensity of conflict
Garrett discusses future diffusion patterns which are now possible due to rapid-fire social networking technologies and their ability to spread information across geographical boundaries. He says that Myers (2000) concludes that "cycles of mobilisation and response will be more rapid, causing issue support to wac and wane more quickly." and that other scholars have come to the same conclusion and surmises that ICT's may ultimately contributing to an intensification of conflict, something which has clearly been seen from the case study under examination.

Timeline for Nestle-Greenpeace PR crisis

A timeline showing how the first four days of the online PR battle between Nestle and Greenpeace . It shows the numbers of people online who helped drive the PR disaster for Nestle over the company's alleged use of unsustainable palm oil and resultant damage to rainforest.

NESTLE KERFUFFLE on Prezi

Facebook Battleground

Greenpeace Senior Campaigner Rolf Skar and Web Social networking expert Jeremiah Owyang join Brian Lehrer to discuss Nestle's recent Facebook PR crisis:






Facebook Battleground: Nestle's Vs. Greenpeace from Brian Lehrer Live on Vimeo.

Notes and observations

Levelling the playing field

Rolf Skar says that in the past only large corporations were able to afford major advertising campaigns. Traditional media outlets are not necessarily interested in the issues that Greenpeace is trying to draw attention to. Now with social media and social networking tools, people can spread messages to their social networks quickly and easily, creating a buzz that can even make the traditional media sit up and take notice.

Integrated campaign

The first step was the release of the Caught Redhanded report exposes how Nestlé is sourcing palm oil from suppliers, including Sinar Mas, Indonesia's largest producer of palm oil, which continue to expand into the rainforest and carbon-rich peatlands, as well as into critical orangutan habitat. The second step was to engage the public. The release of a controversial short video which was designed to be shared easily, and a clear call to action (by sharing the video, sending an email directly to Nestle through a Greenpeace widget, sending protestors to comment on Nestle's fan page, sign a petition, etc) all contributed at a micro-level to engender a significant net effect.

Shame tactic in new media

Greenpeace has effectively brought Nestlé, the largest food and beverage company in the world,17 selling over a billion products every day, to its knees through the effective marshalling of new media. While individual's have made an impact in the past, this is the first coordinated and sophisticated attack used by an organisation such as Greenpeace. It does indicate that companies such as Nestle are vulnerable to this kind of attack in the future.

Real time is not fast enough

Social media is instantaneous and information can spread through networks like wildfire. Jeremiah points out that Nestle should have been better prepared and should have known that it was coming when the Caught Redhanded report was released. Secondly, Nestle's online moderators on Facebook did not appear to have much experience with dealing with online communities. Their comments were juvenile and poured further fuel on the fire. Finally, there were no community rules on their Facebook Fan Page so when they tried to make changes, delete comments, change policy, they did not have a leg to stand on.

Day 1 - Data analysis

It's time to get down to the nitty gritty. I am using a case study methodology to study a complex, contemporary phenomenon within its real life context. It's an exploratory case study design - so I am not looking to prove or disprove a hypothesis and am flexible with regards to the analysis style at this stage - could be interpretational, structural or reflective. The primary source of data are individual's wall postings on the Nestle Facebook Fan Page from 17 March (the launch of the next phase of Greenpeace's anti-Nestle campaign) and 17 May (when Greenpeace declares victory after Nestlé announced it would stop using all products that come from rainforest destruction).
     To increase validity and reliability I am attempting to be systematic in collecting the data of Facebook. As expected it is a time consuming and laborious process. The posts are over 6 months old now and while are still available for viewing, are buried deep within the platform and are hard to get at. Also the some posts need to be expanded to include commentary that has been condensed. One particularly controversial post has generated over 250 responses. Have expanded and printed out this particular thread as significant as it has been quoted many times in blogs and media during the controversy. 
     Finally manage to scrape, cut and paste all postings during the timeframe I've indicated into a word document. It is 798 pages long and contains about 1.5 million characters. This is much longer than anticipated. Hesitant about printing all this out as it seems to be a real waste of paper, especially as I don't have a double sided printer. But word document is quite unmanageable and crashes from time to time! In the name of science I am afraid it will have to be done...


Here is a quick snapshot of the number of posts: