Based on the multiple case analyses in the above chapter, this study classify online political election firestorm cases into three categories and present our research results.
This study presented the best responses in each situation in following table 5.1.
Table 5.1. The best response of different situation Online
firestorm type
Fault Defect Counterforce Slander
Effective s Denial: Shifting the
blame Remark Respond 5~6 days
after the events has considered unacceptable to society, thus provoking heavy criticism within a very short period of time. From the research, this study has found that the most effective responses to online firestorms involve mortification, minimization the offensive
feeling, and ignoring to respond to most offensive accusations. And comparing other events should respond immediately, respond lately is a good strategy in this situation.
In addition, persons who are involved in an online firestorm but are not accused of offensive behaviors are advised to establish boundaries with the offender.
2. Defect
Focusing on candidate personalities and opinions, this study studies two offenders who did not respond to the news appropriately: Ko’s response to the unscrupulous company and Lien’s response to the Kaohsiung gas explosion. According to our research, it is best to insist the main opinion and using attack strategy to evade the most offensive accusations.
3. Counterforce slander
Slander often occurs during political elections, as political elections involve “winner takes all” dynamics; candidates strive to defeat others to win. In such situations, most candidates use “full denial,” “blame shifting” and “accuser attack” strategies to prove their innocence. From the cases, this study can see that both Ko and Lien used the same response strategy, though when more intense attack strategies were used, this spurred a more severe online firestorm. Thus, those who are involved in this type of online firestorm should focus on clarifying and explaining the situation rather than constantly attacking others.
From the NWOM definition proposed by Wetzer et al. (2007) and Richins (1983;
1984), this study know that NWOM is a communication method that customers dissatisfied about products, services or companies use to express their complaints online or offline. Furthermore, the Pfeffer et al. (2014) define online firestorm as the sudden discharge of large quantities of messages containing NWOM and complaint behavior against politicians, companies and their brands, government institutions and celebrities in social media networks. This study can infer that the analyses of NWOM can also reflect the online firestorm situations. Because this study focuses on the online firestorm of a political election, this study will further distinguish the difference between conventional business online firestorm and political elections online firestorm in the table 5.2. This study discusses this issue from several angles:
online firestorm targets, causes, consumer reactions, initiatives, effects and dissemination.
Table 5.2. Compare conventional online firestorm and political election online firestorm
Conventional online firestorm Online political election firestorm Target s Company
s Products s Services
s Candidate’s image s Candidate’s behavior s The candidate involved in
the online firestorm engaged Initiatives s Launched by a dissatisfied
customer
s Launched by registered and unregistered voters
s Launched by competitor Effects s Refuse to consume
s Sometimes supporters can help candidates turn the situation
Dissemination Text, photos, comics, KUSO videos and songs.
(1) Online firestorm targets
Online conventional business firestorms are always directly associated with faulty products or services. However, online political election firestorms are different: even when the offensive behaviors are done by others, when consumers believe that the offense is associated with the candidate, then the candidate also suffers from the online firestorm. For example, as shown in chapter 4.1.2, Lien’s father criticized Ko’s grandfather for not resisting Japanese occupation. Though Lien is not responsible for
this offensive behavior, he was still affected by the online firestorm. Because the public thought that Lien was associated with his father’s speech, it was believed that he should be responsible for it. Public perceptions are thus more important than reality.
(2) Online firestorm causes
Most of the conventional business and political election online firestorms are caused by faulty or defective products, services or candidate behaviors. Businesses rarely commit slander against other businesses in online conventional business firestorms because such firestorms are typically launched by dissatisfied customers. However, in online political election firestorms, slander is commonly used to damage a candidate’s reputation. Compared with the conventional business environments, political elections involve a survival game. Businesses share a single market. For example, Apple, Samsung, Sony, HTC and Xiaomi share the mobile phone market. However, political elections involve “zero sum” competition for limited resources. In Taipei mayoral political elections, only one person ultimately becomes mayor, and competitors thus do everything they can to beat the others and earn the position. Given this winner-take-all dynamic, slander is more common in political elections than in conventional business relations. Moreover, when slander initially occurs, publics cannot determine the truth; thus, NWOM spreads quickly, which results in the development of an online firestorm. As shown in chapter 4.3, candidates vehemently deny accusations and try to prove their innocence or attack accusers. From the analysis, this study found that proving one’s innocence is far more important than attacking accusers.
(3) Consumer reactions to online firestorms
Complaints and damaging behaviors are common in conventional and online political election firestorm cases. Just as consumers complain about faulty or defective company behaviors, products and services, publics complain about and damage candidate reputations and behaviors. However, some people spread NWOM during an political election only because they are loyal to a specific political party or have an irrational personal dislike for a candidate; these people maliciously attack candidates and their supporters. In conventional business situations, people seldom attack others who have different preferences. In the case of mobile phones, for instance, those who use HTC mobile phones are unlikely to criticize those who use Sony or Apple phones.
However, political elections are “winner-take-all” games, numerous supporters volunteer to attack a candidate or others with different preferences. Because these individuals harbor a strong sense of ownership over a specific candidate or party, they are likely to participate in an online firestorm.
(4) Online firestorm initiatives
Conventional online firestorms are typically launched by a dissatisfied customer (target customer), as publics must use or experience a product or service in advance to identify a fault or defect. Online political election firestorms can be launched by registered (target customer) and unregistered voters (non-target customer). One can easily judge a candidate based on his behaviors without being a registered voter. As shown in chapter 4.2.1., NWOM on Ko’s statement that rejecting Ting-Shin was akin to witch burning could have been spread by anyone, and not necessarily by Ko’s target customers (registered voters). This is the case for all online political election firestorm cases. In addition, online political election firestorms are often launched by competitors. As shown in chapter 4.3, candidates are often involved in online firestorms due to a competitor. Again, this is attributable to limited resources and winner-take-all dynamics.
(5) Online firestorm effects
Those engaged in conventional business online firestorms typically refuse to consume a product or switch brands, causing a company lose profits and suffer a negative brand image. Very few supporters remain after a conventional business online firestorm. Online political election firestorms similarly cause publics to vote for other candidates, thus causing the targeted candidate to achieve low opinion poll results and lose the political election. However, unlike in conventional business online firestorms, certain individuals continue to support the candidate no matter how offensive his or her behaviors were. As shown in figures 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13, there is a certain degree of PWOM (Positive Word of Mouth) that occurs during a wave of NWOM, and PWOM trends are similar to those of NWOM. This can be observed in every case.
Furthermore, unlike in conventional business online firestorms, supporters can occasionally help candidates change the situation. This occurred when Ko’s wife was accused of breaking the law.
On 12 October 2014, Ko’s wife was accused of canvassing for Ko while working as a
doctor at a public hospital. As a government officer, she was not allowed to attend political election activities, as this is illegal in Taiwan (Hsu, P. J. & Wu, J. S., 2014).
However, critics of this law argued the law is too strict. Supporters claimed that Ko and his wife should be allowed to support one another. As the oppositional voices grew stronger, the legislative Yuan of the Republic of China adjusted the law successfully on 11/11 (Lai, I. S., 2014).
l On 10/13, Ko’s wife posted on Facebook to reply the query, she mentioned a series problem to ask the members from opposite party whether their canvass behavior is legal or not. She also emphasized if government use identical rule to treat everyone, then she will accept the accusing and stop the canvassing behavior (Appendix 6).
s Ask the members from opposite party whether their canvass behavior is legal or not à Reduce offensiveness: Attack accusers
s If government use identical rule to treat everyoneà Reduce offensiveness:
Attack accusers
l On 10/13, Ko interviewed by the media claimed that they would follow the law if the law is clear, but he hoped the government did not judge the case with different standard (Chu, M. U., 2014).
s Claimed that they would follow the law à Corrective action
s He hoped the government did not judge the case with different standardà
Reduce offensiveness: Attack accusers
In this case, this study uses “Ko” and Ko’s wife name ”Chen Pei-Chi” as the keyword to collect data and do the analysis.
Figure 15. The response time and NWOM pattern of illegal canvass online firestorm Data source: Opview insight software data
Opview Insight data(Ko) : A= (242+316+351+260+170)/5= 267.8 Opview Insight data(Ko’s wife) : A= (56+128+68+59+28)/5=67.8
Table 5.3. NWOM amounts of illegal canvass online firestorm
Date 10/12 10/13 10/14 10/15
NWOM amounts (Ko) 242 316 351 260
Date 10/12 10/13 10/14
NWOM amounts (Ko’s wife) 56 128 68 Data source: Opview insight software data
Table 5.4. Boiling period and explode period of illegal canvass online firestorm People Boiling period Explode period
Ko 1 days 2 days
Ko’s wife 1 day 1 day
In most online firestorm cases, public outrage can only be minimized, and the dilemma is seldom changed. However, in this case, Ko’s wife successfully turned NWOM into positive support. PWOM about Ko’s wife grew and eventually surpassed
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
amount of comments
NWOM PWOM
NWOM of Ko's wife PWOM of Ko's wife
NWOM. This support eventually resulted in a change of law. This had never occurred during online conventional businesses firestorms.
(6) Dissemination
Though online conventional business and political election firestorms differ in several respects, they are disseminated the same way. Both are transmitted through virtual texts, images, KUSO videos and songs. KUSO is a term used in East Asia specifically to describe the Internet culture that is generally used to sneer or ridicule a specific event or person (Wikipedia, 2009).