Social media is definitely not only a hot topic in the public relations spectrum, but also in business professions and disciplines. From deciding on how to integrate this new form of technology not only among some of their key audiences (ex. employees), but also how to measure its effectiveness in campaigns, research, and even in crisis situations.
There are numerous sites out there that allow you to track and monitor what is going on in social media regarding a particular issue or topic, and it appears that everyone wants to have this type of software and services. Even larger corporations are getting involved in social media research, such as Microsoft. The mega-giant corporation has just announced that they are creating FUSE (Future Social Experiences) Labs, which is going to focus on offering services and different types of software to track social media connections, interactions, and data from social media.
Of course, when there is a need for social media connectiveness and research collection, there are also issues on where corporations draw the line with having their employees on social media. Numerous corporations have implemented social media policies for their employees to follow and adhere to. However, is this due to the face that these corporations want to try to control the message? Or is it about protecting information from the public and the privacy of those working with the corporation? Some corporations (at least 54%) want to actually block access social networking sites from their employees. Okay – what message is this sending to the employees?
These are all interesting points to bring up – but honestly, corporations can engage and participate in the conversation online – but they do not have necessarily the power to control the message. They need to engage and interact with the online community proactively and effectively. Plus, the sooner that people realize that there is no privacy online – then they will be able to think strategically before they write, post, or update their status on these various social media sites.
In other words, corporations need to be aware of the current issues and conversations that are happening online among their key stakeholders, and actively be engaged in interacting with them. Stakeholders today have a lot of power and legitimacy when it comes to communicating online – they are building their own social networking communities about a particular issue that is salient to them, and creating and sharing information with each other, which ultimately impacts the corporation and their status online. So, corporations have to embrace these new forms of technology and adapt to the changing business environment. If corporations try to stay stuck in the old business communication model and try to be gatekeepers of the social media realm, they are going to be the ones that are going to have the issues and crises potentially towards their reputation.
Hope you all are having a great day! 🙂
Best Wishes,
Karen
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