Purpose - The paper aims at explicating the differences between using traditional online communication channels with consumers for conflict management purposes and building a communication platform using social media. In the paper a research design is presented which goal is to allow to compare the effectiveness of both models based on company data from one of the largest search platforms in the world - Yandex LCC. As a result, introduced is a system of factors, which are supposed to explain the differences in the effectiveness of using various online channels for consumer conflict management as they were determined by preliminary qualitative research.

Design/methodology/approach - The study uses the results of in-depth interviews with various stakeholders in the process of conflict management through social media in Yandex LCC. The proposed research design is based on the need to measure the effectiveness of conflict management during a period of one year, during which the same 35 company specialists provided multi-channel customer support across a series of traditional and social media channels. The differences in the outcomes of the studied practises are further supported by data from consumers about their attitudes and perceptions of various communication channels.

Originality/value - As this research is dedicated to studying and empirically testing the above mentioned issues and questions, its outcomes have implications both for practitioners and scholars.

Practical implications - The results of the study could be directly implemented by other major search platforms companies. In the paper, directions for improvement of KPIs for customer support divisions of search platforms are introduced, which would allow to make more precise evaluations of the effectiveness of practises in customer support divisions.