Social media - a risky business?

Well, not to make you envious or anything, but I'm just back from a few drinks in Darling Harbour on a lovely warm evening here in Sydney.

The Melcrum summit has been another of those occasions when I'm reminded how great it is to meet other comms professionals face to face. Hugely impressed with David Grossman's insightful comments as chairperson and great to meet renowned blogger and social media expert extraordinnaire Lee Hopkins (He was doing very well when he told me my photographs didn't do me justice and I look FAR more lovely in person. Until he said I looked 'a bit chubby and English' on my photos!  So hey, if you've never met me, ignore the photos - apparently I'm much more gorgeous in real life!)

Anyway, back to business. I've run a couple of social media workshops recently, and the biggest topic of conversation has been "are we ready to give up control?"  There's been a sense of "We want to give people a voice and we want to open up a dialogue ... but only if they say things we agree with."

So it was interesting to hear today from Telstra, Australia's biggest telecoms operator, who have been brave in their approach to setting up external blogs and forums through a Now we are Talking section on their website. Their guiding principle is "We provide an environment that encourages respect for the differing views of others and passionate but respectful dialogue." In other words, we're not going to throw our toys out of the pram if people say things we don't like.

Three pieces of advice they gave were:

• Develop a thick skin
• Remember it's their forum too - their voice is just as important as ours
• Respond to mis-information but don't argue back

They referred several times to the fact that you have to expect to "cop a bit of flack". So much so that their blogs have made the media a few times.

They feel they've earned credibility by being honest, human, admitting their mistakes and letting people say what they think. One of their bloggers was told his call centre was being closed and wrote quite a raw and angry post about it. It was published. They gained respect from their staff as a result.

Their approach might seem high risk (all the more so because this stuff is on their public website - forget 'the media might see them' - there's no 'might' about it), but they've thought about it carefully and their view is that these discussions are going on anyway. This way, at least they get to hear them and they get to commment.

My sense today was that social media is starting to move on. In previous conferences, I've almost drowned under the weight of experts talking in theory about social media and telling me it's coming my way, but there's been a deafening silence in terms of companies actually doing anything with it. Today, I heard real experiences from companies who are trying it out. One was HP, who fall into the IBM, Yahoo, Microsoft, you'd-expect-them-to-wouldn't-you early adopter camp. But Telstra was another, and one was a government department.

Maybe, to use diffusion theory speak, we're starting to see the early majority come on board ...

Sue

Comments

[Liam]

Its not just IC that's wrestling with this issue - its come up recently on quite a few PR sites as well - check out Mitch Joel at http://www.twistimage.com/blog/archives/009769.html

Liam

[Lee Hopkins]

But you *ARE* more gorgeous in the flesh than in your photos!

[Alex Manchester]

The Telstra case study was indeed interesting, not least because as a company they are subject to an enormous amount of criticism over here due to the country's broadband speeds being rather below average. The blog is a very bold step.

At the event I also mentioned Dell's blog with regard to "personalising customer relationships". Shel Holtz has put together a great post on the topic, which I think is relative to the Telstra effort as well.

Separately, I hope you have a fantastic time with your holiday here, Sue. Kicking off with a few drinks in Darling Harbour (backed with the amazing Sydney boat show and it's exhibits) sounds like a great way to start!

[Sue]

Lee - I can so see why all those women were queuing up to see you across the bar ...! (And I've just tried to leave a comment on your blog but failed dismally. I'm obviously more technically incompetent than I thought.)

Alex - thanks -I'm having a great time so far and loving the harbour and Bondi beach. tomorrow I'm off to cuddle koalas. (And no, I promise I'm not working - I've only logged on to pick up my Facebook messages and post up my pics!)