Part 4 : Adapting and the "big lie"

Hello again, David. Last time, you emphasized that bigger and established companies have to be more adaptive in dealing with the Internet. What kind of organizational, structural or philosophical change do you think corporations will need to undergo in the next few years to face these new challenges?
Let's reverse the order of your question.

I don't know. I can't say. And I don't care.

Before you zap my answer and accuse me of being flippant, let me try and explain. I really don't pretend to know if any significant value change will be brought about as larger companies go online, or become "interactive". Some speak of a networked world where employees and customers are somehow empowered by the Web, but I doubt that any large company will willingly surrender any significant power. Indeed, you can call me a cynic, but I see many ways to use the Web to seem to surrender power or enhance participation, while actually not changing anything at all.

For instance?
Focus groups (I mean online ones.) Interactive consumer or user surveys. Allegedly personalized forms of communication. Email-based customer servicing. All at least in part give the individual some sense of control or participation. But all can easily be manipulated and otherwise managed to achieve a desired outcome, or motivate selected behavior, even shape opinion.

Scary...
Realistic. Remember, the Internet is a two way channel. It is much easier to lie persuasively (if that is my purpose), if the audience is constantly giving me feedback on how well my lies are actually going down.

Not that I think all large companies make it their policy to do this. But you must admit the technology makes it very tempting. Think for example how a few clever webbies could have used the Web to deal much more effectively with the Firestone Tire and Ford SUV debacle. I mean, how they could have used the Internet to deflect the criticism, confuse the issue, overwhelm the media and critics with data, plant doubt, enlist positive consumer opinion, and undermine all those apparently incompetent government agency people. Still could do so, if they had the imagination.

What I am saying is that this dark side of the Web is very real, not because of the Internet itself, or its speed, or reach; but because it is the norm for big companies and similar institutions to feel compelled to spend so much of their time trying to persuade their constituents of one thing or another.

In this context, a tool as powerful as the one the Web is becoming is simply too great a temptation to ignore. This does not imply at all that all big corporate or government communications are ill intended. It merely reminds us that when these behemoths feel threatened and react with a campaign involving the "Big Lie", they'll clearly use any means handy and cheap enough, and the Web is really handy, and really cheap!

But surely it would be more difficult to "manage the message" on the Web than, say, via conventional media methods?
Perhaps. But I am betting that a great deal of money and effort will be spent trying to find ways to use the Internet tools to shape opinion. Whether these efforts succeed or not is not your question, which was whether I expect the Web to bring about any meaningful philosophical change in corporate governance. I do not. And mind, please - I am not condemning big companies, merely observing past behavior, and projecting it onto the new medium of the Net.

What you describe does not bode well for all the "openness" people like to associate with the Web...
No, but it could. If the big companies actually come to understand better that empowered consumers and employees can mean greater profits, or can bring some competitive advantage, they'll tend to use the Internet as the delivery system for that sort of positive communication.

You expect them to see that particular light?
I am sure of it. That is, for most companies. So much so that I started this company to help them learn how.

And I am guessing that takes us to my question about structural change, right?
Precisely. Because as they realize that the Web means a new set of tools for communication, (assuming they want to make money from it or reduce costs), they will find those structural impediments and obstacles that create communications bottlenecks or other forms of inefficiency.

Continued...