You really have to careful these days if you are doing any kind of business that can be remotely connected to something that will set off a guerilla social media attack by what I’ll call the ’socialnistas’. This is the social media user that is looking for a fight, looking for a way to “make a difference” even if that difference comes at the expense of many others.

Nestle has stepped in the social media muck as of late with its association with a company that supplies palm oil to the Swiss chocolate giant. So much for being neutral, huh? The Wall Street Journal tells us more

For nearly two weeks, environmental activists have been using social media to wage war against Nestlé over its purchases of palm oil for use in KitKat candy bars and other products, catching the Swiss food giant off guard.

Protesters have posted a negative video on YouTube, deluged Nestlé’s Facebook page and peppered Twitter with claims that Nestlé is contributing to destruction of Indonesia’s rain forest, potentially exacerbating global warming and endangering orangutans. The allegations stem from Nestlé’s purchases of palm-oil from an Indonesian company that Greenpeace International says has cleared rain forest to establish palm plantations.

Mind you, the amount of palm oil purchased by Nestle from this company was only 1.25% of all the palm oil purchased by the company. That doesn’t matter to the folks behind the campaign to bring Nestle to its knees.

So what is Nestle taking away from all of this? Some serious lessons in social media, at the very least. It appears as if the company cannot get a social media word in edge wise and is taking its lumps in the process.

Nestlé says it is pressuring its providers to scrutinize their supply chains to keep that from happening, but it has had trouble making itself heard above the din. The difficulty with social media, says Nestlé spokeswoman Nina Backes, is “to show that we are listening, which we obviously are, while not getting involved in a shouting match.”

Activist groups have long used Web sites, grass-roots email campaigns and videos to publicize their causes. But the attack on Nestlé is part of a new wave of digitally savvy protests, marketing experts say.

“This is the place where major corporations are very vulnerable,” says Daniel Kessler, press officer at Greenpeace.

Nestle has been getting slammed on their Facebook page as well. At one point recently the company announced that anyone posting on the site with a logo that looked like the KitKat logo that read Killers (this was from a video that had gone viral which was produced in protest of Nestle’s practice) would have their post deleted. Well, Nestle found that the technique was one way to get new ‘fans’. Unfortunately as the number of Facebook fans on the page went up to 95,000 most of the newcomers were anti-Nestle. Let’s just say that Nestle’s Facebook page is not a Nestle lovefest these days. If you would like to see some social media vitriol check it out.

Late last week, Ms. Backes says, Nestlé resumed posting information on Facebook to tell consumers about its palm-oil sourcing practices. She says it is too soon to judge whether sales of KitKats or other Nestlé products have been affected by the protests.

“Like all companies, we are learning about how best to use social media, particularly with such complex issues,” Ms. Backes says. “What we take out of this is that you have to engage.”

So what are we witnessing here? Is it the dawn of the power of social media or can we be seeing it used as a bully pit as well? Nestle may have made a mistake in the eyes of many but if they are not allowed to make amends in the social media space because they can’t rise above the noise is that actually a good thing? Who wins in a situation like this one?

What do you think Nestle should do next? What about Greenpeace? If they can’t hear Nestle crying uncle are they really bringing about change or are they just piling on at this point? Some wonder if Nestle should shut down their social media efforts, especially Facebook, and start over. Some experts chime in

Jeremiah Owyang, an analyst at Altimeter Group, a digital-media consulting firm, says that would close off all lines of communication. Ian Schafer, CEO of digital-marketing firm Deep Focus, sees it differently. “The damage has been so done, it might not be a bad idea to shut down the page and start over,” Mr. Schafer says. “It is tough to turn that negativity around.”

Your thoughts?

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