Today a group of unhappy customers started a PR campaign to encourage people to close their PayPal accounts.

Paypal have failed to mount any kind of response as of the time of this writing.

How the campaign to shut paypal down started

As far as I can tell the tweet to start it all off was:

If @LulzSec called for a #Paypal boycott it would make way more damage than any LOIC attack could ever do. Is that a felony? #AntiSec — ¯_(ツ)_/¯ (@ClipperChip) July 27, 2011

@AnonymousIRC wondered if @Lulzsec calling for a boycott of Paypal would have a significant impact on the company.

This tweet was followed up by a post on Pastebin, also by AnonymousIRC, putting forward the case against Paypal.

Some minutes later (or before… can’t easily work out which came first) @anonymouSabu posted this:

Operation PAYPAL (#opPAYPAL) Cash out your accounts, and cancel them. Press release coming soon. Get the message out there. — The Real Sabu (@anonymouSabu) July 27, 2011

That seems to have gotten the ball rolling. With RTs and direct engagement of followers and followers of followers and so on the phrase #OpPayPal is trending.

Let me say it again.

#OpPayPal is a trending phrase on Twitter.

How PayPal responded

I have looked at several Paypal accounts on Twitter.

Here are a couple of examples:

The most recent Twitter posting from @PayPal, the account that should be taking charge of the official response to this PR campaign has not posted anything since July 14.

The really telling thing about this posting is that was a response to another unhappy customer.

OK, so the official corporate account has no response and seems to be happy abdicating responsibility to another account. Here is how @AskPayPal have responded so far:

@LeBlanc13 @gocatgo1964 Please let us know if there is anything we can help out with. ^LC — Ask PayPal (@AskPayPal) July 27, 2011

Which, interestingly, is another example of fobbing off an unhappy customer.

UPDATE: There are now reports that the page to cancel your PayPal account is no longer working.

It may be that the page is not working because the server is overloaded or because PayPal took the page down. Either way it is not good for PayPal.

PayPal social networking performance grade: F

No attempt to interact directly with their customers.

Either Paypal have no awareness of the campaign to undermine their business on Twitter or they do not believe Twitter users represent a significant threat to their business.

Either is a fail on the part of PayPal.

How could PayPal do better next time?

If a customer complains do not fob them off or blandly ask if you can help but respond directly to their concerns and attempt to engage them in a direct and open conversation about their issues.

If you upset a whole community take the time to properly respond. Put your case out there for your friends and foes alike. While nothing you say will make your enemies become your friends there is a good chance that if you take the time to address the issues, explain your position, and offer your enemies an opportunity to engage in a direct and open conversation you will keep the loyalty of your friends.

Reaction of PayPal customers to the boycott

The reaction has been mixed.

There are those who clearly support the aims of the boycott, such as:

#oppaypal is trending because people are tired of corporations siding with government against free speech. You cant bully us. We made you. — odotm (@odotm) July 27, 2011

I spent some time trying to find a pro PayPal tweet. The best I could find was:

I'm pro #opPAYPAL. I think Anonymous should create their own version of PayPal. That way, we can DDoS the shit out of it just for the Lulz. — UnauthenticateD (@Oddly_Normal) July 27, 2011

Now there are loads of tweets speculating the impact on the share prices when the market opens

http://twitter.com/#!/Chri_Phoenix/status/96193478349950976

And many many PayPal customers who are a bit confused about it all and are actually helping to spread the #OpPayPal campaign simply because PayPal are not present in the conversation to help them understand that this is a politically motivated PR campaign.

WHATTT??!! someone tell me what this #oppaypal business is about, should I move all my money?? Help! I'm scared! 😦 — Kayley Almond (@Kayley_A) July 27, 2011

So, PayPal, for all of the above you score an F on your social networking activity, an F on your use of Social Media tools, an F on your social communications skills and an F on your customer service efforts.

Final comment,

Try harder next time — if you manage to make it through the next 48 hours.