JPMorgan Chase Cancels Twitter Q&A

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JPMorgan Chase had good intentions when scheduling a Twitter Q&A with students about career advice, but the strategy backfired. The company encouraged questions of executive James B. Lee under the hashtag #AskJPM.

JPM Q&A

Of course, curious students weren't the only ones who used the hashtag. Plenty of snarky comments piled in.

JPM Q&A 2

It's a delicate time for JPMorganChase to expose itself on social media. Just last month, the company agreed to pay a $13 billion settlement because of misleading mortgage practices (the fourth multi-million-dollar settlement in 2013). A Wall Street Journal article two weeks ago explored CEO Jamie Dimon's "Complicated Relationship with Washington." And today, Reuters reported an investigation into the company's  practices in China, including potentially widespread bribery and a questionable decision to pay "$1.8 million over two years to a small consulting firm run by the daughter of former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao."

In the end, JPMorgan Chase cancelled the Q&A:

  JPM Q&A 3

PR Daily offers sound advice for companies considering similar customer engagement activities:

"Social media is about interacting with people, but it's also about occasionally sticking a finger in the air and seeing which way the wind is blowing."

Discussion Starters:

  • Do you find fault with JPMorgan Chase's attempt? Was the Q&A a nice idea, or should the management team have known better?
  • What's your reaction to the cancellation tweet? In what ways is it effective or not?
  • Apply PR Daily's advice to other social media failures. How is this useful for companies?