From cars, to foot warmers, to toys, prescription drugs and any number of food products, hardly a week goes by that we don’t learn about several product recalls. In fact, the agencies that issue product recalls have never been busier. One reason — social media. In the UK, for example, the number of recalls of pharmaeutical products has jumped five-fold since 2005. The British government says the driving force is the Internet.

Thousands of bloggers devote  full attention to scouring the Internet for consumer product complaints. Before long, scathing posts appear on their blogs. Tweets draw millions of followers to them. After a few tweets, the mainstream press catches on and ultimately, a government agency steps in. That’s not necessarily bad. No country could ever maintain a sufficient army of product police to look over every item sold to and used by consumers. The Internet gives those agencies millions of additional eyes and ears.

The unfortunate part is that while many companies have turned to social media to promote their products, too many businesses invest too little time and energy in using social media to discover and resolve problems before they explode into a crisis. 

A sound social media strategy must start with listening and learning.