Will social media make the Better Business Bureau irrelevant?

I agree with all of Scott's points, but 'social media' won't accomplish this unless we include both transparency and trust as part of the equation.

For instance, Yelp has been accused of, in essence, selling off better ratings in return for advertising (see http://www.topix.com/forum/startups/T8C2PMUTRST3C6BCT/p2).

In other words, Social Media can easily be gamed - and isn't by itself the answer. Trust and transparency are what will enable consumers to make better, and more informed decisions.

I say social media will not make the BBB obsolete. It plays more of an investigative role regarding standards and ethics when it comes to business. Social media - while wonderful for crowdsourcing - is very much opinion-based and cannot always be held up as factual.

It's interesting to me to think though that the type of person that would find themselves engaged in a community like Focus.com is someone who already values online community. Not everyone does. It's for that reason that I wonder if the BBB will always have an audience. But will that audience be big enough to ensure the BBB stays useful?

This whole conversation reminds me of the nature of journalism over the past 10 years. There really are two sides to the argument:

There's the group that believes that good journalism can only be performed in the presence of some sort of editorial environment, where the buck stops at someone's desk and that helps to ensure that no bias is applied. This is the supposed role of the BBB in it's context. However, we all know that editorial bias exists (just watch CNN and FOX and you'll get my meaning) and so truthfully, there is a weakness in this approach.

Conversely, the idea of news that is generated by the masses is an appealing one as the argument can be made that the masses will combine to generate an accurate picture. Wikipedia exists on this belief. But even masses can and often are moved and directed by bias and peer influence.

So to my mind, like journalism, the future of a healthy BBB is in finding a way to bridge the gap between these two approaches and combine them in some manner that allows them to stand in the gaps of each others weaknesses.

Let's hope so. The BBB has basically devolved into a thinly veiled extortion racket. Some of the ways the internet might help in this area include:

1. Online reviews - there are already some good precedents here with communities such as Yelp offering a lot of transparency into local businesses.

2. Customer service - while not readily available in the small or local business community, crowdsourced support models such as GetSatisfaction could go a long way to helping aggrieved consumers.

3. Scoring functionality - the aforementioned community models often attach a score to a business and while there's been progress here in recent years, a lot of work remains.

So, yes social media can and should make the BBB irrelevant, but only if it continues to push the boundaries of transparency around ratings and reviews, and provides a vehicle to address real consumer complaints.

T+T. Transparency and trust. I like that Chris. We should all be aspiring to that, Focus included.

I think the answer is different for different age groups. The BBB will be around in it's present form for a few years yet but the value prop they offer will have to change as the graying of North America occurs. No longer will using the 1960's method of calling up the BBB and asking someone to look up a company be relevant.
Will the leaders of the BBB have the good sense to revise their value prop and offer their services via social media...I hope so. If not then over time they go the way of the dodo bird and the record companies. The service of the BBB should be around forever....their present way of operating will likely end in a decade or less.

I think there is a ways to go before Social media takes over the role of the BBB. For better or worse in execution the BBB does offer some reassuring tenets for consumers.

1. There is an accreditation process for BBB members
2. BBB members agree to certain standards resulting in some level of marketplace trust.
3. Some level of ongoing monitoring
4. Some level of objective/unbiased content
4. Help resolve consumer issues.

Now we can debate the efficacy of these principles but they do offer a more objective perspective than pure social media which is fully subjective and biased with full disclosure often a one way street.

Social media has a place and probably is more powerful to promote or denigrate a business than the BBB. At the end of the day that may, however, be a more powerful behavior changer than a more objective BBB approach. But I'm not sure that is altogether healthy.

For social media to be fully credible there needs to be transparncy, more objectivity, and something/someone to validate accuracy to generate trust and reliability. I'm not sure that is the focus today of Social Media so I think the BBB is safe for now, but they certainly need to assess their business model in light of the impact of Social Media on the perception of busineses.

My position is that the answer to this question is an unequivocal YES. The BBB lost all credibility with me when they hounded me to join for years. The ONLY criteria was to pay a fee. So my feeling is that the BBB is already irrelevant as a tool for consumers to use to truly verify whether they should do business with a specific company or not.

With that said, as long as the impression of the consumer is that the BBB is some kind of "government" run entity and 100% non-biased, they will still get much play. However, more and more savvy Internet users know, as Scott points out, that sites such as Yelp.com offer a far better measure as the contributors have actually experienced doing business with the company they report on, not received compensation FROM them.

To make something irrelevant, doesn't it have to be relevant in the present? BBB is irrelevant already from the bad press it continues to get on the pay for play schemes that it operates - become a member, get a better grade!! - and that it is a toothless organization.

Social media isn't having an affect there, but it's lack of transparency with its customers is instead.

Yes! What role does the BBB play when you can find out anything you want via the web? People may argue by using the BBB you can make sure you're getting facts, etc and they offer services to help deal with issues should they arise. Yes, this is true however because BBB charges companies for their services and there have been a number of situations where this has resulted in less than accurate reviews you have to wonder what is the fair value of what they offer.
The purpose of BBB is being diminished due to the web in the same way numerous other industries and companies are being forced to reinvent themselves due to the web.

No, Social Media will not make the BBB irrelevant. Do you honestly trust all that you read online? Do you trust all the reviews online?
Disgruntled employees, competition, make up much of the negative comments on sites.. and big $$, influences, friendships, and marketing and P.R reps make up the majority of positives.
Let's look at YELP as a classic example. They had several class actions / lawsuits accusing them of Extorting businesses to Pay for advertising. If they didn't pay, the negative reviews showed up, (some were allegedly crated) and if they paid, they had no negative reviews..

The BBB does investigate the claims to make sure that they were valid. that someone didn't complain making mountains out of molehills, just because they may have felt slighted. Or, especially to make sure it wasn't competition trying to usurp their competitions control of a market.

Outside of Consumer Reports, there are few (if any) trustworthy companies that will have data that is investigated and validated to be true and verifiable.

The BBB also provide the resources for FREE - not sure if there is anything cheaper than free.. One does not have to be a member to review their research.

Recently I noted a business acquaintance was promoting another trainer on LinkedIn, and I found this to be very interesting because that individual had told me that he felt that the other trainers product wasn't worth the money, and was as he stated a "trainwreck"

When I asked him about his reference, he simply stated that the trainer was popular, and he recognized that in endorsing this trainer, that the trainer would in turn help endorse him. Help him increase His sales.

when asked if he didn't think that it was disingenuous, or unethical, he simply stated, that he wanted the business and didnt' care..

That alone is huge example of why one cannot trust the internet as a valuable resource

Mark, the BBB reviews All complaints, and treats them equitably. . The BBB, which has a resounding history in the commercial market as well as private, has had a consistent positive reputation for being fair and equal with the information regarding Members and Non Members - and due to their history, and Tenure, there have been NO Nationally reported incidences of preferential treatment to companies. No matter how big or small they are. They are consistent in the details and facts

The information / research about the companies are Free - and is public domain information. There is no cost to review the information and rankings of companies

I believe without question, social media will surpass the role of organization's like the BBB. Since fees are involved, that limits the trust component. In social media, the ability to immediately tweet out an issue, create a blog post or post to Facebook, makes agencies like the BBB (as pointed out by the previous post) irrelevant. More companies are gearing up to monitor issues and react.

The problem with relying on social media for information about companies and/or their products is that you only hear about one side of the problem. Rarely is the problem further defined as to whether it is with an entire company, a single product or service or perhaps just an individual employee.

I have yet to see someone relate through any social media if the situation were resolved and how let alone any admission that the problem might have been the consumer's fault. BBB has serious issues but at least they do attempt to shed some light on the reality of a given issue.

There is an alternative to BBB, and Yelp, and it's called "The Ripoff Report." I've used them myself, and they seem to be a legitimate website where you can post your grievance, and they give the company a chance to respond, and then you can respond again. They don't have ads, and they don't take money from companies to take off bad reviews. They are possibly going to make the BBB obsolete.

Martin
http://3dreputationengine.com

Translating the value some find in BBB to a interactive experience online might work. Think about a space in which you know what the agenda is and who is rating your company. I agree that transperancy and trust are key.

If the BBB wants to be seen as a positive marketing tool for businesses, take it online and create a place in which consumers and businesses alike will want to spend time.

I am sure that on a general scale social media has already surpassed the BBB. That being said, not everyone around the world is using social media nor those who are using it utilizing it to search for vendors. The BBB will always have its role in the world, just like traditional media and other channels aren't going to disappear. That being said, with the advent of social media, it would be smart for the BBB to take advantage of social networking sites to strengthen its position and potentially create its own type of unique business networking site (or perhaps provide a BBB app. to LinkedIn?).