Social media command centers, staffed with social media first responders known as “social care representatives” are being implemented by companies who grasp what many brands fail to recognize: that social media is a real-time customer service voice that brands can be used for social media successes, or ignored and turned into public social media disasters. Airlines, in particular, are jumping on board.

A Southwest airlines (SWA) gate agent took exception to being called “the rudest gate agent”, and so flexed her tiny muscles by having a passenger and his children thrown off the flight for tweeting his displeasure, even after he had deleted the tweet, as gate agent Kimberly S. had demanded.