Social Media and Consumer Safety – A Match Made in Heaven

Today I read an article entitled “Social Media and Trial Lawyers – A Match Made in Tort Hell.” The article basically bashes trial attorneys throughout and in typical Fox News fashion blames them for everything that is wrong in the world.

The article focuses on a class action lawsuit that has been filed against Pampers that was spawned out of consumer outcry over their new “Dry Max” diapers through the Facebook group Pampers Bring back the Old Cruisers and Swaddlers.

While I must concur that a class action over a diaper causing diaper rash is probably not of the utmost concern to the American legal system, I can assure you that a diaper causing increased occurrences of diaper rash is absolutely of concern to parents of small children.

My real issue with the article is that I think it missed the biggest and most important issue surrounding this entire matter, the importance of social media as a consumer safety tool.

Before we were all connected through our various social channels this situation would have played out quite differently. If a consumer thought these diapers were causing more diaper rash he or she would most likely have had to write a formal complaint letter to the manufacturer and would probably not get much of a response and almost certainly no change would be initiated. However, in today’s connected world hundreds or even thousands of like minded individuals can create the awareness and change that once took months or years, in a matter of days.

I am excited to see social media working in this fashion. As social media continues to grow and becomes even more popular, it will continue to play an increased role in the arena of consumer safety and I am extremely curious to see exactly how large that role becomes.