Mar 20 07
Great Web 2.0 insight by Lee Smith
By Scott Sigler
One of the great things about blogging and social media is that if you look hard enough, you will probably find a thought-leader in your space. If you’re reading this blog, then you’re looking at for very specific content - social media and Web 2.0 use for internal communications.
So if you’re here for that, then you want to read the opinion of Lee Smith of Gatehouse Consulting. Lee’s blog Talking Internal Communications has a great piece on social media and, of course, internal communications. Click here for the PDF. Here’s an excerpt:
One of the most profound implications for communicators concerns message control. Those of us who were trained in traditional media relations techniques operate from a control mentality – we craft and refine key messages, we limit the number of spokespeople and we carefully groom them on what to say and how to say it. We monitor the media and, if we think a report is unfair, we write to the editor to seek redress.
Social media turns all this on its head. You cannot control a conversation. As a form of word of mouth, blog posts spread like wild fire. They become a matter of public record as soon as they are posted, no matter how well or poorly informed the author is. There are few editorial standards and there is no editor to complain to when things go wrong. More worrying still, blogs are increasingly influencing the agenda of the traditional media. In such an environment communicators will have to learn to let go and operate ‘freestyle’.
So check out the blog and see if it resonates with you.
