The importance of getting things right, even in small ways, is that one minor mistake can call attention to a number of larger ones. Consider this Facebook post from bookboon.com, a (good) service that provides free access to a growing collection of (mediocre) pamphlets on various topics.
I've screenshotted it because I expect (or hope) that it will be corrected or retracted once they recognize the obvious error ... but I wonder if they will recognize that it's the least of their problems.
Problem 1: Her Name is Not "Mark"
The comment is from "Leen Coleen from Sweden" - and the company's response is "Mark, you are welcome." There's an obvious mismatch, and not one that isn't easy to make. It's not a typo in the name, or assuming "Coleen" was her first name rather than the last - it's just completely wrong.
Calling a person by the wrong name is a minor glitch when it's done in meatspace. Maybe it's not so minor, as people tend to be very possessive of their names and some take great offense when you get them wrong ... but it's understandable in speech because it's often extemporaneous and easily corrected.
In print or online, it is less forgivable - especially when their (correct) name is right there. Perhaps we can imagine that they had two positive comments to share, the one from Leen was better than the first one they got from Mark and rather than publish both, they chose hers, but merely cut-and-pasted their response, neglecting to change the name. Even at that, its' sloppy work and shows a disregard for the person who took the time to give them a flattering comment in public.
Problem 2: Attention Hogging
Facebook gives you a very simple way to share any post ... by using the "share" button. If it's a comment on one of your posts (which this seems unlikely to be), you can click "like" and it will call attention to your gratitude for the comment, and then readers who are interested will look to the comment itself.
Another consequence is that it denies Leen the attention she should get as the author of a comment. It's fairly common practice for social media to provide a link to a person's profile when they make a comment on a post - and it's pretty obvious that some people go around making comments on other peoples' posts just to get attention for themselves, but I don't think that's the case here.
When you take on extra effort to copy and repost a comment rather than just "share" or "like" it in order to disable the link and keep people looking at your page rather than clicking away, that's a violation of the conventions of social media. It's rude, inconsiderate, and anti-social. This is no small matter.
Problem 3: Credibility Fail
Another reason to use the "like" or "share" button instead of copying a comment and stripping out the link to the commenter is because it gives you credibility. People are used to seeing this and, even though most don't check up on you, it gives them the sense that these are real comments from a real person because that's the way it generally works.
Without proper attribution of a quote (including a link), there's the sense that the testimonial may be a fake. If it's not a complete fake, then perhaps they changed the words a bit, maybe for noble reason (Leen is from Sweden and maybe her English is a bit mangled) or maybe not.
In this instance, it's very easy to check up - there's a search box at the top of Facebook that doesn't even require leaving the page. And it looks like "Leen Colleen" does not exist. The damage to their credibility far outweighs the positive sentiment from a testimonial, which is itself instantly voided.
This is a very serious problem for the brand.
Problem 4: Uselessness
When people brag about themselves on Facebook, it's tolerated. It seems narcissistic and needy to post that "It's my birthday" or "I just won an award" because it is clearly an attempt to get others to congratulate the poster - but it may also be an event that is meaningful to them, such that they are inclined to share it with others and it's good to hear positive news about our friends. We want to hear it, and we want to congratulate them.
When it comes to companies, we expect them to flatter themselves with positive information, but it's done for a mercenary purpose: to get us to use their service or buy their product. It's a bit unctuous, but at the same time, it's typical behavior. Whenever you "friend" a company, or very shortly afterward, you realize that you're going to get promotional announcements. A lot of them.
Hopefully, some of those announcements will be of some value to you. For example, When bookboon publishes an announcement about a new booklet, there's a chance it will be something I am interested in reading. When they publish a positive comment about an older booklet, maybe they are calling attention to one that I have overlooked.
What possible use is there in publishing this particular comment? It merely states that the services is good in general. Especially since the post is seen by people who have friended the company and are presumably already using the service, a random comment from an unknown person that gives general praise doesn't have any value as far as I can see.
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I could likely go further, finding other ways in which this particular incident demonstrates a gross incompetence in the use of social media and has done the firm far more harm than good - but four is enough. The specific aspects are far less damning than the underlying character flaw of a firm that fails to consider the interests of its audience, and is inconsiderate to those who seek to interact with it, in the social media.
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