The shape of corporate communications is changing fast. An article in the New York Times at the end of last year claimed that the UK was leading the world in web-based advertising. The internet is predicted to overtake press advertising in the very near future. This is just one small manifestation of a much larger shift that is driven by the development of Web 2.0 and the growth of online media tools like blogs, wikis, pod casts, and RSS news feeds.
The common theme linking these new web applications is social networking – individuals creating and sharing their own content by exchanging ideas and opinions on any issue imaginable. With the growing hype about social media the question must be asked – what has this got to do with corporate responsibility? There are a number of inter-related reasons why CSR practitioners should be interested in these new trends.
1. We all know that corporate reputation is, in part, a social phenomenon. A good reputation can only be built on responsible business behaviour. However, your company’s standing in society is also affected by what others say about you, as much as by what you say about yourself. New social media are giving a more powerful voice to campaigning organisations and corporate watchdogs, as well as individual critics (and supporters) of your company.
2. As trust in the traditional institutions of society falls, people look to alternative sources of information to shape their thinking. They are more likely to have confidence in the opinions of their peers than in the messages emanating from big business.
3. Companies need to accept that they can no longer expect to control what is said about them. The best they can do is to find new ways of joining in the dialogue that is taking place about the changing roles and responsibilities of business.
In response to these trends, a growing number of big companies – Ford and Nike among them – are embracing corporate blogging to get their own story out there and shape the conversation about their reputation. It seems that the day is fast approaching when, if you do not blog about your own company, someone else will.
One high profile example of this movement is Dell. The PC maker suffered a consumer backlash following an angry posting from a customer complaining about poor customer service. It responded by launching its own blog to encourage positive feedback from customers and employees. In another case, an employee of Microsoft was allowed to run a site that was often critical of the company – a policy that gave credibility to both parties.
At another level, social networking is shaping the way companies are responding to the broader debate about their role in society. Social media can provide a powerful platform for an exchange of ideas that contribute to societal change. In an interview in the New Scientist last November, Thomas Homer-Dixon, a long-time observer of global trends, predicted that “open-source democracy” – the term he uses to describe lots of people getting together online – would be essential in finding solutions to the major issues facing the world today, like climate change.
Homer-Dixon argues that even the most compelling evidence of scientific experts on the impact of climate change is not sufficient to bring about the profound shift needed in human activity. Rather, we – business, government and civil society – need to reflect collectively on the issues, share knowledge and exchange ideas on potential responses.
All this may seem very daunting, but the reality is less complex. Web 2.0, online media tools and social networking are all new manifestations of something that is very familiar to the world of corporate citizenship – they simply represent a significant extension of stakeholder dialogue.
True, social networking does require new approaches to communication – top down and ‘push’ strategies simply don’t work. The whole point about social media is that they are not about driving a particular agenda but engaging in open dialogue. With this is mind, companies should embrace this new opportunity to get involved in an open and democratic discussion on the issues that are of importance to their stakeholders.
A former director at Ashridge, the business school, Andrew has acted as an advisor on issues of corporate responsibility for the European Commission and the UK, German and Danish governments. He was founding secretary of the UK Association of the European Business Ethics Network and has been a non-executive director of the Institute of Social and Ethical Accountability.
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