It appears that everyone from PR professionals to social media influencers to corporate business professionals are embracing all of the benefits and opportunities related to social media. Whether it is communicating with customers and answering questions in a positive and proactive manner (ex. Best Buy & Twelpforce with Twitter) to being cutting edge and ahead of the game in terms of embracing social media in their business and communications practices (ex. Ford, CDC, and Coca-Cola).
However, with all new forms of technologies does bring about some great and fabulous opportunities, it is also important to acknowledge the risks and challenges of social media to bring a balanced perspective on the new medium. Jeremiah Owyang wrote an excellent post on what are currently some of the challenges related to social technology – definitely some good points for business and public relations professionals to be aware of and manage in their practices. From managing the communication channels to influencers to understanding all of the “noise” being communicated online to privacy considerations.
I would be interested in hearing Mr. Owyang’s perspective and thoughts on the challenges that might arise on Foursquare and Gowalla – would the same privacy considerations and issues come up like in Facebook? What about the security and risks that are associated with mobile devices such as smartphones? What are some of the risks that are apparent in terms of Foursquare and Gowalla – and how can public relations professionals overcome these challenges? These are just a few questions that I had after reading Mr. Owyang’s post.
In summary, I do think that social media brings about great opportunities, but we also have to have a balanced view of the technology and think of all of the potential issues and scenarios that could come about for our business, profession, and our own reputation.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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