KFC is dealing with two separate food incidents at two restaurants in Australia.
A TikTok video showed workers at a location in Queensland licking chicken, grabbing fistfuls of lettuce and throwing chips. The video received nearly 500,000 views before the person who posted the video changed the settings to private.
KFC did not immediately comment on the video, which allegedly took place at a branch in Queensland.
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In addition, another KFC customer last weekend discovered a rubber glove discarded by a staff member with an order of chicken salt on fries and shared his find on Facebook.
“I might want to avoid KFC for a while. Dirty used gloves found in box of chips,” the upset customer shared on his local Facebook group. “It was at Kwinana KFC, late at night around 11pm.”
The customer added an update to his post, saying that KFC contacted him within five minutes of his Facebook post and that his local health department was also in touch.
“The City has received the complaint regarding KFC Kwinana and is investigating,” a Kwinana City Council spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia.
Why it matters: KFC has a big problem in Australia, compounded by the fact that parent company Yum! Brands did not immediately respond publicly to the matter. The first step toward crisis communication involves sharing an apology and letting the public know what steps are being taken to fix the problem. Failure to respond quickly raises further questions and damages credibility. While the company took action to quickly respond to the customer after seeing the Facebook post and demonstrated excellent monitoring capabilities, its external messaging may go further to explain how it will investigate these issues quickly and release all findings to restore public confidence.
Twitter’s internal report shows fewer active users
Twitter is struggling to keep its most active users engaged, according to internal research seen by Reuters.
In an internal document titled “Where Did the Tweeters Go?” a Twitter researcher wrote that “Heavy Tweeters,” defined as someone who logs on to Twitter six or seven days a week and tweets about three to four times a week, make up less than 10% of total monthly users, but generate 90% of all. tweets and half of global revenue.
The report added that those Twitter users have been in “absolute decline” since the start of the pandemic.
Additionally, the report found that cryptocurrency and “not safe for work” (NSFW) content, which includes nudity and pornography, were the topics of increasing interest among heavy English-speaking users. while news, sports and entertainment tweets have faded.
“We regularly conduct research on a wide variety of trends, which evolve based on what’s happening in the world. Our overall audience has continued to grow, reaching (238 million daily active monetized users in the second quarter of this year),” the spokesperson said.
Why it matters: This report highlights recent questions about the number of active users on the platform that have been raised amid Elon Musk’s ongoing saga of buying the company, while also raising additional questions about how Twitter is being used. While Twitter promotes itself as a trusted source of news, sports and entertainment topics that allows brands to enter the conversation, listening to these topics can change the way communicators engage with the platform. Twitter would be wise to learn from this report and take proactive steps to address the number of active users on its platform.
President Biden promotes the use of the vaccine with BeReal
A Tuesday tweet from President Biden used BeReal to encourage the public to get their annual vaccinations.
BeReal features a daily notification, a time frame to post, and use of the front and rear cameras.
Biden’s tweet included a BeReal-format photo. The right-hand frame shows Biden smiling and pointing over his shoulder, while the left-hand frame shows Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci and United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy posing together with a thumbs-up.
I got my annual, updated picture today. You should get yours too, really. https://t.co/jlrmakxHWm. pic.twitter.com/S7lCTSjMaK
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 26, 2022
Biden was talking about the updated Covid-19 vaccine.
“Can we repeat what happened in past winters – more infections, more hospitalizations, more loved ones getting sick, even dying from the virus? Or can we have a much better winter if we use all – all – of the tools we have now?” he said earlier Tuesday at the White House.
Why it matters: This tweet is another sign of the traction BeReal is gaining despite being a newer social network. Communicators hoping to reach younger audiences should consider whether BeReal is a good fit for the brand voice in relation to the target audience for each message.
Gen Z gets financial advice from social media, study says
Gen Z is five times more likely than their older peers to get financial advice from social media, according to a new report from MoneyZine.com.
“Gen Z uses social media more than any other generation, with multiple reports revealing that this generation is more likely to use social platforms for financial advice over more traditional outlets,” said Luke Eales, CEO of MoneyZine.com. “Gen Z are a digital first generation – the first generation to grow up with instant access to the internet. For this reason, the bite-sized format of social media is likely to have a lot of appeal, enabling them to consume content through their mobile devices and interact directly with it.”
But even communicators need to be careful, as financial advice that doesn’t follow legal rules can get your company or influencers fined, according to a recent Forbes report.
Social media influencer Kim Kardashian was recently fined $1.26 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for failing to disclose on her Instagram account that she was paid to promote cryptocurrency coins.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said the Kardashian case is a reminder that the law requires influencers to disclose to the public when and how much they are paid to promote such investment advice.
But Gensler also said the public should take a close look at the investment opportunity before making a decision.
“We encourage investors to consider the potential risks and opportunities of an investment in light of their financial goals,” Gensler said.
Why it matters: MoneyZine.com’s study shows a great opportunity for reputable financial services groups to market more on social media. There is a younger audience looking for information online and companies that follow the rules here can benefit. Communicators should make sure to work closely with legal campaigns to avoid problems with federal regulations.
Chris Pugh is a staff writer for PR Daily. Follow him I tweet AND LinkedIn. Send story ideas to [email protected].
