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Virgin Atlantic just fired 13 flight crew members who apparently have been discussing issues such as flight safety and/or cleanliness of aircrafts on Virgin Atlantic’s own official Facebook page. (031108 UPDATE: Virgin Atlantic just commented on this – see below – it turns out the debate wasn’t on their official Facebook page – but on a Facebook page set up by the crew members.)

Virgin Atlantic have also chosen to take down the original comments – which makes it kind of hard to figure out how harsh the criticism was – and if the decision is just.

I understand that Virgin Atlantic finds it hard to cope with employees that are criticizing their own company out in the open – and I realize that if employees are not loyal it is normal to fire them. But I still think Virgin Atlantic might have made a mistake here.

Openness comes at a price
Opening a Facebook page is great – but openness comes at a price. You can’t control the other end of the conversation – that is what openness means. And that means that being open – but not willing to face critical remarks – is not an option.

I am not suggesting that Virgin Atlantic should sit back and let this happen. But they should step up to the challenge of new dialogue tools like Facebook by getting in to the conversation – not by closing it down.

Be brave – show the public that you are not afraid
The right thing to do if criticism hits you in the new media landscape is to say: “Bring it on! Let us get the full story out in the open. If it is untrue we will now very soon – and if it is true, we will get a chance to apologize and to set things strait.

By this open approach management at Virgin Atlantic could have shown the public, that they are not afraid of dialogue and openness – since there is nothing to be afraid of! And that would have been comforting!

Management is not alone – employees need to learn new rules too!
An open debate would not only force management to reinvent their presence on the internet – it would also force employees to learn about consequences when you go public with dirty underwear about your own company. If it turns out the only dirt is in your mind, you loose credibility and people will find it hard to trust you again.

Closing the case doesn’t solve it
It is too easy for a big company to fire people, to remove comments – and to pretend that they are back in control. And t is very discomforting and doesn’t convince the public of today.

I mean I really have no clue if there is a story in this or not – but that is exactly the problem. Now I will never know – and I will be wondering. And so will a lot of other people – and they will talk about it in all kind of forums – and since they are not employees they can’t all be fired – and then what?

Right now the decision to fire the staff is debated on Virgin Atlantics Facebook page and Ellen Simonetti (who was fired from Delta airline after blogging – read her story here) has a comment:

This was not a smart PR move. This could snowball into book and TV and movie deals about what it’s REALLY like to work at VS. I’d tell you to look up the Businessweek.com article from last summer about my case wherein they determine that DL overreacted, but I’ve got better things to do… like work on my screenplay and TV show pilot.

More on the topic here (Danish), here and here.