The Public Apology Threshhold Revisited

A year ago, I put a post in another blog space about a concept I developed called the Public Apology Threshhold.  In the post, I said that Social Networking lowers the threshold companies have to apologize.  It also speeds up the process.

This week Steve Jobs apologized for their faulty antennas in the Iphone 4S. 

• How much of it was the result of shared information in the Social Networking Space? 
• Did they see a measurable decrease in sales as the result?
• How much was internal discussion and policy a factor in their decision?

I don’t think we’ll know for a while but I am convinced Social Networking does the following:

• It increases the speed and force of any message
• It puts a magnifying glass on public issues
• It broadly increases awareness of public information
• It facilitates related research and sharing of additional / related information

I’ll go back to my original thesis and ask if you’ve seen enough evidence that the Social Networking decreases the Public Apology Threshold.