The Web 2.0 technologies are revolutionizing the way the enterprises used to communicate with their employees, partners, suppliers and most importantly the customers. I had started my professional life at the beginning of Internet proliferation (1999-2000) and witnessed email (push) and WWW websites (pull) taking over notice boards and snail mail as the primary communication mechanisms in the corporate world. However, today, we are witnessing Blogs, RSS readers, social networks, wikis, podcasts and videos communications taking over the email and WWW (non-RSS) websites.
Though, the new mechanisms still rely on the Internet (same as email and WWW), they do require some fundamental changes in how the communications are conducted. The new communication channels are highly collaboration, highly interactive and some times contain user-generated content and comments. The most important aspect of these communications mechanisms is the viral nature of spreading any kind of news.
Let’s see how few corporate communications have been transformed through the use of these new communication channels.
Communication of Public Meetings
Today, the online videos and podcasts have totally revolutionized the communication of these public meetings. A perfect example is of Google’s Analyst day last month. I had not known about the meeting in advance. However, I do subscribe to the Google’s youtube channel that listed the videos just hours after the meeting. If there were no online videos and RSS feeds, I would have missed out on the information regarding Google’s products. And Google would have missed out on its audience.
Communication of a Product Launch
When it comes to a cool product presentation, no one can match Steve Jobs of Apple. However, not all of us can afford a ticket to MacWorld or are important enough to be invited there. So, how could you experience the magical iPhone announcement delivered by Mr. Jobs? Welcome, online short videos. Within the minutes of Mr. Jobs’ actual iPhone announcement, my RSS feed from News.com provided me a link to watch the announcement. I got to listen to the announcement without leaving my desk and spending a single dollar.
Viral Communication
Kindle. Does that ring a bell in your mind? Well, it is a new book reader that was announced by Amazon just a few weeks ago. The Kindle is already out of stock. However, a Google search on the word "Kindle" brought back 23,800,000 results yesterday? That is 23 million references of Kindle? How can this be possible? A product announced few weeks ago has 23 million references already? The answer is the viral nature of the new communications mediums - Blogs, videos, news, RSS feeds, social interactions, chat logs – that link everything to everything else. All of these links result into a viral communication of the subject, which in this case was a new product. What a powerful new way to communicate breaking news, product announcements, crisis communications and many other types of communication.
I would end this Blog entry with a note there are many companies that still are against these new mechanisms of the communications. But this behavior is not new. We all know change is always hard because it requires people to learn new things. Change is hard because it sometimes results into a power shift. Change is hard because it requires people to go out of their comfort zone. Personally, I am able to embrace change whenever I interact with a diverse set of people who can give me new perspectives. Therefore, to learn about these new communication channels, please don’t contact the communication department in your company. Find some teenagers in your neighborhood or ask your own (if you have any) on what they think about these new communication channels. They will explain the excitement of a user-generated content, the profound impact of a candor communication from a company, and the power of social interactions to spread the news (good or bad). Once you listen to them and think about it for a while, I bet your perspectives will change.
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