What do corporations want?
When last I contributed to Guidewire, I talked about how corporate PR people are trying to make sense of and figure out how to jump into the blogosphere. I’ve just come back from a week in New York where I attended Personal Democracy Forum and Syndicate, two conferences that were all about the blogosphere. As ever, the technology is moving at lightning speed and I met so many entrepreneurs who are building exciting and useful tools and services to power RSS, etc.
Interestingly, there was little discussion about corporations and the blogosphere at these events. Based on conversations I had over the course of the three days, it’s clear that there is very little mutual understanding between the entrepreneurs, geeks and enthusiasts on one side and the mainstream corporate marketing and communications professionals on the other. Which makes me feel like a U.N. interpreter.
I opened my remarks at a panel presentation at Syndicate by saying:
--Most corporate communications and marketing people – even at technology companies - don’t even know what RSS is.
--Those who have heard of blogs and RSS don’t think they need to worry about them yet – and until a Wall Street Journal reporter calls the corporate communications director and says “Hey, I read [fill in the blank] about your company in this blog, what’s your response?” they’ll think they’re right.
--At the same time, they all know something is going on out there on the Web and that they better keep an eye on it.
During the panel, we talked a bit about why corporations are reticent to move into the blogosphere. In the interest of fostering mutual understanding, here are three things companies worry about:
--Liability – in our litigious business environment, any public utterance by any corporate representative is fair game for a combative lawyer. This is no small concern. Open-minded in-house lawyers and persistent corporate PR people are working it out one conference call at a time, but this struggle will take place at every corporation.
--Love – companies are filled with people, and no person likes to see the product they make, the policy they create or the opinions they share lambasted in public by a sharp-tongued blogger. If it’s the blogosphere vs. THE MAN, people at corporations know they’re battling a stereotype, and that’s daunting.
--Scaling – the blogosphere is about conversations. No corporation has the staff to conduct quality 1:1 conversations with everyone in the blogosphere who may want to communicate with them. They don’t know how much energy and commitment quality participation in the blogosphere will take; jumping in half-way may be worse than not jumping in at all . . .
Having said all of this, the corporate PR people I’ve spoken with understand there is much to gain from participating. The hurdles are significant however and corporations need help crossing them. They need clear, thorough analysis of what’s going on in the blogopshere that impacts them. They need sound guidance on policies. They need to study examples of corporations that successfully blog. They need to study examples of corporations who have made big fat mistakes. And they need to have this information presented to them by people who understand what life is like inside their organizations. Then they’ll get there.
--Lisa Poulson
Managing Director, Technology Practice
Burson-Marsteller San Francisco
Posted by Lisa Poulson at May 25, 2005 08:49 AM
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