Norman is entirely right that Millennial employees (and some younger Generation X) simply have never known a time without the tools of social media. Their expectations are very high, and many of their employment decisions will be governed by vastly different motivations than the prior generations.

There’s no doubt in my mind that enterprise risk is manifestly higher as a consequence of these tools. At least at this point. If one of the hallmarks of Excellent public relations is control mutuality, the willingness of publics (or stakeholders) to express that mutuality is more likely in organizations which embrace social tools than among those which do not. What remains to be seen (and is a research interest of my own) is whether there’s a differentiated level of performance as a result. That performance difference doesn’t have to be revenue or stock price; it can be a decrease in operational risk or turnover, or an increase in employee positive attitudes (that should lead to revenue), etc.

The last of the old school, top-down commanders are retiring soon, to be replaced by skeptical, impatient Generation Xers, with 30-year old Millennial leaders close behind. They, by the way, are the largest generation since the Boomers. Just sayin’.

Sean
@commammo

I broadly agree with much of what you say in this post. Where you are particularly correct is in stressing the tension between the latent possibility of social media inside the corporation and the top-down culture of how corporations actually run. However, this is a dynamic relationship, not one set in stone (as much as C+ executives think or desire it to be so). This tension will be a source of conflict and ultimately of change in the future. Why? Because younger employees who have grown up with this technology at their fingertips (and who consequently do not think of it as ‘technology’ but the way the world works) will kick back and find ways around internal rigidities that get in the way of being effective. Moreover, for some senior managers (many of whom we consult with today) the potential of this convergence of behaviour and technology is too big an opportunity to let slip. The possibility of visualising the informal networks underpinning how corporations function, as a means of making this more effective, represents an opportunity to leverage social capital in ways that few could have imagined a decade ago. All the failures of the past, from knowledge management solutions to top-down intranets, can be replaced with highly effective structures that incentivise people through recognition and effectiveness (job satisfaction). Here the real potential of Enterprise 2.0: namely, the socialising of standard business processes is in its infancy.

But where I think you underestimate PR and social media is in the shift this represents with regard to consumers, users, customers and corporations. This is not the beat the naive ‘democratisation’ drum but to recognise that the consumer/producer relationship has been altered by the power of individual communications now in the hands of the ‘great unwashed’. Social networks, initially the outcome of digital children’s need for self-expression, acknowledgement, entertainment and experimentation, has now become part and parcel of a mass consumer participatory culture. No, I am not saying user generated content rules. The broadcast paradigm – through advertising or secure media channels, newspapers and press releases – is now challenged by more diffuse individualised channels – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. In short, the corporation no longer has a monopoly over the truth (their brands). This has led many social media gurus to insist on new metaphors, particularly the notion of a need to engage in a conversation with customers. For many companies concerned about PR this is seen as a threat, whereas it can be an opportunity.

I say ‘can be’ because unlike many social media evangelists, power has not been lost by the corporation. The nature of that power, or more precisely, the exercise of that power has shifted. I am not a believer in the notion that social media places power in the hands of consumers. If you analyse Twitter and many media sharing sites you will discover that most of the chatter and content is actually generated in the mainstream media and is then filtered by the masses. The key point is this filtering through social media channels. The opportunity is to be able to monitor these channels in order to gain insights into the brand experiences of your customers for two reasons: first, to be able to intervene and turn brand hater into brand ambassadors as Dell have demonstrated so successfully; and, second, to bring those insights back into the corporation so they inform communications, product development and ultimately, innovation. This is what we (as a company) call Social CRM – the ability to influence internal processes in response to customer experiences.

In short, the real potential of social media is the opportunity it offers corporations to reorganise their internal processes such that they more adequately reflect the needs of their customers. Enterprise 2.0 is really about cultural and organisational renewal. The old computer science adage of ‘crap in, crap out’ holds doubly in this brave new world: it doesn’t matter how good your PR might be, if what you are selling is crap, it will be crap. Get it right on the inside and the hearts and minds of your customers (and competitors) will follow.