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Obama v. Goldman Sachs: a social media mismatch

Submitted by Brian Skepys on April 23, 2010 – 10:50 am15 Comments

President Obama’s historic move to reform Wall Street is taking center stage on social networks as he makes a direct appeal to the people. And what of his biggest target? Goldman Sachs, the largest investment bank in his sites, is lacking the guns where it matters most.

There’s no doubt the Obama crew knows how to play politics online. If his 8.1 million Facebook fans and 3.7 million Twitter followers don’t convince you, think back to his campaign when his Organizing For America website inspired thousands to fund his campaign. Looking at it now, there’s no doubt about what he has in mind:

As Forbes points out, the President is taking to social media channels to enlist support and inspire citizens to “hold the big banks accountable to the people they serve.”
The petition reads:

But Wall Street’s lobbyists are prepared to spend millions to weaken reform with loopholes and exemptions, so we need to ramp up our grassroots campaign.

We’ll organize Americans across the country, fight falsehoods, and show that our nation demands action to rein in Wall Street — but we can’t do it without you.

And what about the banks? Goldman Sachs has been repeatedly fending off populist rage since the global economy started teetering two years ago. But it’s done so in conventional forums, with high-priced lobbyists, lawyers and a well-oiled PR machine, an effective defense to fight a conventional reputation management campaign. But watching our Twitter feed over the past few days as it spits out tweets like “The SEC charges Goldman Sachs for defrauding investors“, and it’s becoming clearer: Goldman is poorly equipped for the tarring they are getting from the legions on social networks every day.

For example, Goldman Sachs has never posted its side of the story to its 7,600 Facebook fans. Its Twitter presence is even poorer; having lost the @GS handle to some guy named Gary long ago, Goldman has shown zero interest in hobnobbing with the Tweeting masses. On Goldman’s corporate site, its press release page lacks social media “quick buttons” to better defend itself against the many broadsides like this it faces across social media channels.

Backroom negotiating might not be enough for Goldman Sachs this time. As President Obama keeps calling them out into the open before mid-term elections, Goldman may soon find itself without a weapon in a the biggest business-reforming knife fight of our times.

Editor’s Note: Don’t get caught out like Goldman Sachs. Learn more how major brands are going beyond campaigns to have a more fruitful dialogue with consumers at the Social Media Influence conference. Register before May 1 to get the early bird rate for the Social Media Influence conference.

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15 Comments »

  • greg says:
    April 25, 2010 at 1:10 am

    I am presently in litigation with Fremont Reorganizing, Goldman Sachs dba Litton Loan Servicing, et al., (2 different cases) for about 2 years now. The main issue with the complaint is a fraudulent loan originated by Fremont in June 2006. This in turn produced an array of other
    issues: unsigned deed of trust, over billing issues, lost payments, excessive balloon payment, back dated assignments, illegal non-judicial foreclosure documentation, missing documentation, illegally reporting to my credit, falsifying declarations, 6 week TRO’s, court procedures not followed, judges wait until the courtroom is cleared to rule against a TRO (both times); retired (78 year old) judge ruled against a seated judges TRO where the retired judge took 30 minutes to read a 300 page brief. The whole time they have been ignoring my request and failing to give me the required documentation so that I can rescind the loan. Goldman Sachs dba Litton Loan Servicing has been aggressively trying to foreclose on my property. I believe to cash out for insurance reasons. (It’s over a million dollar loan) I have invested over $400,000 into this property for the past 5 years and if I had known about this mortgage meltdown game played by Wall Street I would have never proceeded with this Real Estate transaction. The Media and the Government has not once addressed or helped the borrower, namely me, who also has been damaged by these defaulted CDO’s.

    A Time line of what’s going on with Goldman Sachs to show how they are scheming to pursue foreclosures for the insurance by acquiring distressed, shelled fraudulent companies which will eventually or haven’t already gone BK…

    ? Oct 26, 2005 Litton Loan Servicing Class Action – mishandling loans, servicing over 400,000 borrowers – case settled Feb 17, 2009 for $537 (limited due to class status)
    ? Feb 27, 2007 FDIC Cease and Desist – Fremont Reorganizing for illegal loan practices, et al., (largest predatory lenders who heavily solicited brokers for their schemes)
    ? Oct 16, 2007 Massachusetts Lawsuit vs Fremont and Goldman Sachs – Predatory Lending Practices – settled May 11, 2009 for $60 mil
    ? Dec 11, 2007 – Goldman Sachs Acquires Litton Loan Servicing
    ? June 2, 2008 Litton (Goldman Sachs) Acquires Fremont Reorganizing Servicing Rights
    ? June 19, 2008 Fremont Reorganizing files BK
    ? Apr 16, 2010 – SEC vs Goldman Sachs – Securities Fraud

    Here is the link to my blog http://bushnellcomplaint.blogspot.com/ if you want to download court documents pertaining to my case.

    Note: My wife is pursuing individuals who are interested in joining her in a class action lawsuit with regards to violation of her community property rights in a wrongful foreclosure. If you are in a community property state and a spouse is not on title you may have grounds for legal action.

  • La Pieuvre dans le réseau : Goldman Sachs contre Facebook « le blog a lupus…un regard hagard sur l'écocomics et ses finances…. says:
    January 11, 2011 at 1:58 pm

    [...] Sur sa page Facebook, Goldman Sachs ne prenait même pas la peine de répondre aux affirmations des Démocrates et l’absence virtuelle du banquier signalait son inaptitude à s’adapter aux nouvelles réalités du web. L’apprentissage a été rapide : un an plus tard, voilà que Goldman Sachs met la main sur une part du capital de Facebook. [...]

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