How to keep complaints from spreading : limiting the fallout from negative social media posts / Harvard Business Review

After United Airlines baggage handlers smashed Dave Carroll's ,500 guitar during a 2008 flight, he spent months fruitlessly seeking compensation. Then he created a music video about the experience and posted it on YouTube. "United Breaks Guitars" amassed 150,000 views within a day, prompting the airline to try to remedy matters—but the reputational damage had been done. Within three days the video had been viewed by 1.5 million people, many of whom "liked" and shared it and chimed in with their own grievances. United's stock plunged, with many observers attributing the drop in part to the PR debacle.

Business.