Exercise 1 - World Wrestling Entertainment

World Wrestling Entertainment and the Internet

Background Context

The advent of communications technologies such as the internet and social media have placed the consumer in an unusual position. Prior to the advent of digital self-publishing, the vast majority of information a person gained about a given company was largely limited to what was readily available through newspapers, radio, and television. All of these mediums were largely a receiving medium, ie; one where the user receives information, but has little direct impact on it in regards to issues of presentation or fact. Everything that was known was in this way limited, and also tightly controlled. Simply put, a person learned as much about a given company as the company wanted them to know. Insider information was often strictly controlled, and even when insiders wanted to speak, there were very few avenues for them to do so.

The advent of the internet and social media changed this. Now, in many ways, an interested person can often gain almost as much, if not more information on a given organization or industry than those actually in the industry ever thought possible. Startlingly, sometimes even more than the actual organization itself. This can often lead to a PR nightmare for the organizations involved. The struggle by organizations, particularly for-profit organizations to maintain control over the flow of information is extremely difficult. To communicate with one's customers is to reveal information, and in doing so, making the customer more informed than perhaps the company would like. Finding the optimal balance between the two is critical. 

In the case of an organization like the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), it can easily serve to help or harm the company. While it is true that Professional Wrestling, or Sports Entertainment, as some have called it, is indeed scripted (not fake; NEVER call it fake in the presence of a professional wrestler; very painful and dangerous consequences can and have occurred over the years as a result), the key to this field is maintaining the illusion of reality, otherwise known as "kayfabe". Clearly, if a person wanted to see people beat each other up, and then it is discovered that the contest is scripted, then the tension surrounding the competition is moot; hence the need for the maintenance of the illusion. 

The unusual situation of the WWE, arguably the only remaining successful professional wrestling company in the world, is that it knows it must maintain kayfabe to keep credibility and keep their fanbase engaged. At the same time, they must, like any organization, constantly seek to expand product awareness to increase the number of customers for their product. Appealing only to a hardcore audience is ultimately a detrimental act guaranteeing only diminishing turns on one's bottom line. In our contemporary age, the WWE, like any other company, is forced to utilize social media to reach out to new potential fans. The risk for them, however, is the possibility of revealing too much information, and thus breaking the carefully maintained illusion of reality. 

The dynamics of maintaining kayfabe are made much more difficult with the fact that the internet is a two way medium; often with the audience speaking more than the business itself. In regards to the WWE, for every online posting through twitter and facebook made by the company and its talent, easily hundreds more comments and articles are posted by the company's fans. Specifically, hardcore wrestling enthusiasts who have extensive information about the inner workings of the industry known as Smarks (Smart Mark).  In some cases, the smarks have contact with, or perhaps even are, actual insiders in the industry itself. 

Exercise Answers

1. What are people saying about this organization online? What tools are they using to talk about the organization?

The vast majority of people discussing the WWE online are what the industry considers smarks. Most of these smarks discuss matches, and insider information on the inner works and internal politics of the WWE. Discussions over the past ten years have largely been commentary on what is perceived as a general decline of the industry and the overall quality of the WWE's product. The vast majority of these discussions take place in internet wrestling forums, and even on old usenet boards or irc chatrooms. Relatively little in the way of social media in terms of facebook or twitter is used. 

2. Is the organization responding to these people through social media? If so, how effective do you think they are?

The WWE generally attempts to reach out the the general populace as a form of pop culture entertainment and does virtually everything in its power to ignore the smarks, also known as the Internet Wrestling Community (IWC). Often the WWE has an adversarial relationship with the IWC as their views tend to differ very strongly regarding the direction the company is going. In this sense, the effectiveness of the WWE in its social media efforts can be regarded as either poor or mixed.

3. What social media tools is the organization using to proactively communicate with their user base (rather than just responding)? How effective do you think they are in building relationships and engaging their customers online?

The WWE's usage of social media is almost exclusively limited to its use of twitter. Supplemental materials are provided through internet videos on its own websites. The talent more often than not uses twitter to further the image of rivalries in its storylines and maintain kayfabe. As noted in #2, the WWE tends to be very weak at engaging its fanbase online and can even have a somewhat hostile relationship with it, feeling that the online communities are not worth the effort. The general population, in a bid for mainstream recognition is more often made aware of the WWE through merchandising and crossover promotion with celebrities than actual social media.