Southwest and JetBlue Model Twitter Interaction

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Two of the more engaged companies on Twitter have been engaging with each other. Unusual for competitors, Southwest and JetBlue teach us what social media is all about-human interaction.

After a friendly discussion about a radio station in Chicago and Guitar Hero, the two representatives got kudos from Twitter followers: 

Airlines tweet 1

Airlines tweet 2

One of Southwest's tweeters told PR Daily,

"People sometimes forget when you work in the same industry you share a similar passion for what you do with your competitors. We all get along and admire the great things each other does, and playing nice oftentimes makes the competition more fierce, and certainly more fun to play in."

JetBlue has been praised for its use of Twitter as a customer service platform, not as an advertising tool:

"JetBlue responds quickly to customer service questions on Twitter. They don't take any days off (just like their airlines) and are there to help at any time."

And Southwest has been a superstar since the early days of Twitter. See the "too-fat-to-fly" situation with movie director Kevin Smith.

Discussion Starters:

  • What risks did the airlines take in participating in this interaction? What are the potential downsides?
  • On the other hand, what can other competitive brands learn from the exchange?
  • On what other social media sites can brands potentially engage each other?