With the onset of social media and particularly the phenomenon that is “Twitter” I wonder whether we need to re look at the repercussions of “negative” word of mouth.

“ Truth or Delusion “ states that if a customer is happy they will on average tell 5 people about the experience .  If a customer is unhappy they will tell 11 people each of these 11 will then tell 5 people ( 55 + original 11  )  this becomes the 5: 66 rule.( Some people know this as the 3:33 rule depending on your source).

Following a recent experience with a BNI colleague I wonder if these figures are now drastically inaccurate.

The individual in question had a bad experience at a bank in Dubai. She decided to “Tweet” this experience to her network.

Lets assume for one minute that she has 200 followers ( some people have thousands ) if each of these followers were to re tweet to their networks. we can say (200×90.9  = 18,180pax)  ( 90.9 is the ratio of 11 to 5 )

These numbers have to be an estimate ( it could 100 times worse ) because I have no exact data to back them up as in the original studies but I want you to think ( and of course comment as it’s a blog )

As if the above wasn’t bad enough. Now add to the above the fact that the Local Newspaper happened to be reading her Tweets and published an article on the experience. The local paper has a readership in the range of 200,000 pax

Wow!!   possible new ratio 200 : 218, 240  

“Truth or Delusion”- Dr Ivan Misner, Mike Macedonio , Mike Garrison