My top five reasons companies resist social media
I spoke last week about the uses of social media for industrial organizations. The venue was the annual conference of a trade association representing these companies that employ lots of blue-collar workers who go to outdoor job sites every day; they never sit in front of computers except, maybe, at home.
The audience was made up of owners of smaller companies and senior management from larger ones. About 200 people or so were in my room (I was never very good at those eyball headcounts). I was taken aback when I asked, “How many of you know what a wiki is?” and two raised their hands.
The same two guys also knew what Twitter is; nobody else did.
I could use this experience to rebut yet again the notion that we have entered an era in which companies can just blog everything. But I’ve beaten that horse to death and the people who insist that it’s true are just going to keep right on insisting that it’s true.
As I took questions from this group, it occurred to me that there are a lot of reasons why companies resist adopting social media as part of their communications mix. That got me wondering about which barriers I’ve heard articulated most often to justify barring social media. Here’s my top 5 list.
#1 - IT won’t let us
IT doesn’t want to spend the time or money to test social media software on company networks, claiming it can cost tens of thousands of dollars and take up to a year to make sure applications don’t conflict with existing programs. They also resist external hosting, asserting that it puts company data at too much risk. (Makes you wonder how much they care about our 401(k) data, since that’s never housed on internal servers.)
#2 - It will be abused
Employees will say inappropriate things. Customers will complain. Bad language will appear on comments. People will insult management. We’ll end up spending time on issues we don’t really think are important. Care to add to the list?
#3 - Management fears loss of control
The company has invested considerable time, effort, and money to craft a brand image that will be completely destroyed if we open it up to the masses. Besides, transparency is a bad thing and we don’t need our internal workings on display.
#4 - Legal and regulatory risks
Nobody likes a lawsuit. Besides, the Securities and Exchange Commission will the company if an employee inadvertently makes a forward-looking material statement. Pharmaceutical companies fear the FDA’s punitive powers for promotion of unapproved indications while the financial services industry fears fines from the bodies that regulate their activities.
#5 - We don’t have the time or resources
Communicators are already overworked. Where are they supposed to find the time to do all this new stuff? How can they even stay on top of the ever-shifting social media landscape?
Incidentally, at a Ragan/Simply-Communicate conference in London last year, participants addressed obstacles to social media implementation while providing feedback through an interactive system. Simply-Communicate’s Marc Wright summarized the results.
I am a PR student at Centennial College and as a part of our online PR course we are required to write blogs; a task incredibly intimidating for many students. The course has been very helpful in initiating us into the social media world, but I can understand why so many industries are still apprehensive about blogging.
Even though we are required to blog, some students are holding back because they simply don’t know what to write about. Although this is not a problem for most companies, I can see how the fear of an online presence is holding people back.
So as a new blogger, I feel many companies are resisting taking part in social media due to fear.
As a side note, if anyone is interested in reading 40 student blogs they are listed on our course blog, http://onlineprcourse.wordpress.com/
Posted by Megan Ramsay on 02/05 at 06:23 PMMy previous post is a perfect example of why students are afraid to blog. Once it’s on the web it’s there for everyone to see.
Posted by megan ramsay on 02/05 at 06:43 PMNot to worry, Megan. I can fix the duplication.
Posted by Shel Holtz on 02/05 at 08:15 PMBlogging is very helpful. You can freely share your thoughts to anyone in the world. You may not be aware of it you’re already inspiring another person, uplifting someone’s spirits when he or she’s been feeling so down. And blogging I think is an effective marketing tool. Companies should try and invest on it.
Posted by Estela on 02/05 at 10:56 PMShel,
Your list looks pretty similar to one I posted on my blog a little while ago:
http://richarddennison.wordpress.com/2007/12/03/five-reasons-not-to-let-social-media-tools-onto-your-intranet/Posted by Richard Dennison on 02/06 at 01:06 AMOne (unexpected) barrier I’ve come up against is people thinking/pretending they *do* know about social media when they don’t. This could be a problem with (often top) management wanting to seem on top of everything. I’ve given sessions where they say they know about this or that, but midway through it becomes plain that they do not. They’ve been bluffing!
Posted by Brendan Cooper on 02/06 at 03:35 AMWhat’s interesting is that these “reasons,” which are really excuses applies to anything new and innovative. Every company needs a guy or team whose sole responsibility is to search out, find and learn how new technology can be applied make a company more efficient and effective.
Posted by Rodger Johnson on 02/06 at 04:55 AMGood post Shel. I was thinking that all of these objections are a smoke screen for a wider industry issue. People are not blogging because their colleagues and friends are not blogging. If you went to another conference dominated by tech people, I suspect the response would have been most hands raised. Maybe the social media evangelist community needs to pick one or two technologies, and one or two industries and make a concerted effort to change minds in that one industry. As I look across the Fortune 500, 85-90% of companies are not even blogging. And those that are blogging are in the tech sector. I think the issue is that social media is not yet seen as mainstream in corporate America. Election 2008 will change some minds, but we still have a long way to go.
Posted by John Cass on 02/06 at 06:16 AMMegan, Canadian college students must be a (in)breed of their own, because blogging, social media sites like Facebook and MySpace and sharing personal information are second nature to American college students!
Posted by Ashley on 02/06 at 09:35 AMI must have missed that post, Richard—so the rationale for avoiding it on intranets and for external communication purposes are pretty much the same, eh?
Posted by Shel on 02/06 at 10:39 AMAshley, the use of Facebook and MySpace has nothing to do with being American. Canadian college students are using Facebook and MySpace (Canadians are the fastest growing group of Facebook users), but to that demographic, blogging is “old school.”
My sister, who’s 11 years younger than me, just graduated from university and is a Facebook power user. To her, Facebook is fun because she can share pictures and videos with her friends. Blogging is more intimidating because you actually have to sound smart and watch your spelling.
Changing your status in Facebook is one thing. It only requires you to verbalize your thoughts in one sentence. Writing a blog post is yet another. It requires you to verbalize your thoughts using a few paragraphs. Plus, your mama might just read it
Posted by Leesa Barnes on 02/06 at 11:22 AMNice post, Shel.
How ‘bout: “That’s something my kids do” (i.e. generational disconnect).
Many CEOs and business owners are simply not hip yet to social media (and hard to convince otherwise, facts be damned).
Some, like Brendan Coooper said, pretend to know for whatever reason, but really don’t. Others were simply not raised in an environment (home or business) where sharing information is the norm. I see it as a sort of generational Cold War: people in their 60s vs. those in their 20s. As Boomers retire and Gen Y gets more entrenched in the workforce, especially in decision-making positions over then next 5-10 years and as Gen Xers bridge the generation gap, I think we’ll see the walls come right down.
Posted by Dan Wool on 02/06 at 12:00 PMI agree with Dan. I think for many people, social media is a term they know, but don’t understand. They know of blogs and Facebook, but they don’t see the purpose behind them.
While I don’t want to say the divide is purely generational, I think that has a lot do with it. I recently worked for a company where the marketing department was keen to implement social media practices. Unfortunately, senior management did not see the merits of doing so. What needs to happen for senior executives to embrace social media? If they aren’t reading blogs, listening to podcasts or using social networking sites, how will they truly see the benefits of these tools?
Posted by Lauren B. on 02/06 at 08:19 PMThis is the same argument I’ve been through 5 times to which I answer the same way, “Play or not, but the technology is here to stay. Get in now and learn the ropes while all your competitors are learning as well, or learn later after they’ve already locked up the market. You choose.”
I can’t afford a fax machine… (play or not)
CD’s are too techie… (play or not)
No one reads a website (play or not)
I can’t post my prices…(play or not)
You mean put my drawings up where anyone can download them? ... (play or not)
Blogs!?! What if someone is mean to me… (play or not)Posted by Mary Hunt on 02/07 at 09:17 AMShel - I agree with your observation that we cannot assume “everyone” is into social media. Companies using social media goes way beyond having a company blog. And social media goes way beyond blogs and Facebook - it takes in forums, message boards, usenets, portals, online media, microblogging etc)
Social media can be used for advertising (I don’t know much about that) but more importantly for understanding and engaging with customers and consumers (I know quite a lot about this). An obvious reply to points 2 and 3 is “Wake up and smell the coffee - there are myriad social media where all these things you fear are already happening (and positive things too)”. You need to understand what people are saying, where they’re saying it and the impact it has before you can formulate a strategy on how to deal with it.
Posted by Jonathan Moody on 02/08 at 05:06 AMGreat post. I have to admit I was one of those people who initially resisted the movement towards social media. Then I was thrown head-first into it during a PR writing class, and I actually realized that not only is it effective and cost-efficient—it’s actually kind of fun!
Posted by Kristin on 02/13 at 02:10 PMShel, I don’t know that I’d have been as surprised as you by the 1% hand-raise level regarding wikis and Twitter. Your audience was a good reminder that not everyone’s online all day.
(A few years ago, I looked at stats for self-employed people in the U.S. The largest group in terms of revenue? People in real estate, property rental, and leasing. Second largest? Construction. Not exactly the legions of virtual consultants.)
Even among my local professional colleagues (instructional designers, consultants, people who create training programs), I’d be surprised if 20% read blogs on a regular basis. And since a major source of employment here in the Washington DC area is the government and organizations that work for the government, my guess is there aren’t many workplaces using wikis.
I think that another possible barrier might be a little lower in organizations than the five you cite—“Too visible,” maybe. My thought is that people new to social software are concerned about the once-it’s-out-it’s-out factor (as with email that you fire off in anger). What are the consequences of doing something hastily/poorly/incorrectly?
Rodger’s comments and Mary’s dovetail nicely—organizations (or early adopters) need a more effective approach to change than “you oughta be doing this.” As with other forms of successful evangelism, by their works you shall know them. In other words, don’t yap about wikis—show the benefits of collaboration.
Posted by Dave Ferguson on 02/20 at 03:11 AMThank you for discussing this! Great post. I’m interning for an organization right now that’s resisting and questioning every step we suggest toward social media. So it’s nice to be reminded why they might not want to invest in it so that we can find ways to to convince them
Posted by Megan on 03/18 at 06:57 PM
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