For any publicly traded corporation, long-term ROI has to be balanced with shorter-term shareholder equity and that is a very slippery slope to tread. The embracing of any online community introduces new risks (e.g. – user revolts which become public, messy, even viral.). These can introduce negative ROI and momentum on the street and those are significant. You’ll get no argument from me on the long-term ROI of opening yourself up, but I it’s a risk/reward scenario that isn’t always favorable in the short-term.

On the outside looking in, we can call it fear and scoff but there are real risks that can justify a conservative approach to opening yourself up as a corporation. I’m not saying it’s the right decision. I am saying, getting beyond labeling it as simply “fear” and having a frank dialogue about the risk/rewards – not all of which are positive – is an important part of the process of guiding a corporation to embrace the Social Web.

In my previous life, I was part of a large-scale change initiative that, initially, failed because we painted a picture of the summit with broad brush, but didn’t have a frank and honest discussion about the rigors and risks of the climb.

For any publicly traded corporation, long-term ROI has to be balanced with shorter-term shareholder equity and that is a very slippery slope to tread. The embracing of any online community introduces new risks (e.g. – user revolts which become public, messy, even viral.). These can introduce negative ROI and momentum on the street and those are significant. You’ll get no argument from me on the long-term ROI of opening yourself up, but I it’s a risk/reward scenario that isn’t always favorable in the short-term.

On the outside looking in, we can call it fear and scoff but there are real risks that can justify a conservative approach to opening yourself up as a corporation. I’m not saying it’s the right decision. I am saying, getting beyond labeling it as simply “fear” and having a frank dialogue about the risk/rewards – not all of which are positive – is an important part of the process of guiding a corporation to embrace the Social Web.

In my previous life, I was part of a large-scale change initiative that, initially, failed because we painted a picture of the summit with broad brush, but didn’t have a frank and honest discussion about the rigors and risks of the climb.

@ Jon I would have disagree with you on a lot of your points. This is not about being safe, its about evolving market conditions and making smart business decisions. As corporations look into their client/customer/product relationship it becomes apparent that there is always room for improvement.

The above advice rings true for any company looking to improve that relationship. As Jeremiah Owyang says its a conversation and those companies that don’t recognize that relationship will lose traction to other companies who will engage in a conversation with their customer.

So, to me its not about risks or opening up, its about ROI. What will opening up by admitting a course correction return for the business?

@ Jon I would have disagree with you on a lot of your points. This is not about being safe, its about evolving market conditions and making smart business decisions. As corporations look into their client/customer/product relationship it becomes apparent that there is always room for improvement.

The above advice rings true for any company looking to improve that relationship. As Jeremiah Owyang says its a conversation and those companies that don’t recognize that relationship will lose traction to other companies who will engage in a conversation with their customer.

So, to me its not about risks or opening up, its about ROI. What will opening up by admitting a course correction return for the business?

I think most halfway decent companies are open to all three of the above, but they want to do those things in a traditional (read: safe) manner which accepts everything which comes in and filters what comes back out to the customers, employees, and shareholders.

I think of the, literally, millions of dollars that my previous company spent on gathering customer feedback, competition analysis, and exploration of strategic initiatives which might not pay any dividends and those three things don’t ring entirely true.

The bigger you get, the more risk there is in opening yourself up to a community which, in the digital age, can turn on you and disseminate negative information which affects shareholder value. I’m not saying I agree with that perspective and think there is a way to do it right, but I don’t think it can be quantified that easily. Just saying…

I think most halfway decent companies are open to all three of the above, but they want to do those things in a traditional (read: safe) manner which accepts everything which comes in and filters what comes back out to the customers, employees, and shareholders.

I think of the, literally, millions of dollars that my previous company spent on gathering customer feedback, competition analysis, and exploration of strategic initiatives which might not pay any dividends and those three things don’t ring entirely true.

The bigger you get, the more risk there is in opening yourself up to a community which, in the digital age, can turn on you and disseminate negative information which affects shareholder value. I’m not saying I agree with that perspective and think there is a way to do it right, but I don’t think it can be quantified that easily. Just saying…