Part 2: Be on time and truthful

Your newsletter is targeted at helping companies define their Web presence. You cite the Ford Motor Company and its sites as needing improvement - how?
Good example of a listing boat in a roiling sea. And a good example of an organizational chart on the Web. All together, Ford Motor Company has a half dozen different vehicle sites. That's because Jaguar doesn't want its name spoken in the same breath as Mercury which itself wants to be bigger than an ordinary Ford, etc. The Ford Motor Company corporate site tries to paint the big picture but doesn't succeed, in my view, because there seems to be a reluctance to say too much that's timely or important.

I doubt that shareholders know it, but the only place to get timely information from Ford is on their media-only site. That's shortsighted. As any good public relations person will tell you, anything you say to the media should be communicated to your key audiences.

How does a company benefit by disclosing its financial information on its website in a timely way - i.e. at the same instant it is made available to the wires and Wall Street?
This gets back to my CNN analogy and also to the need to drive employees, shareholders and customers to the site for other than just sales. If someone hears about your merger or some important news you've announced on television, they won't get the whole story. It's impossible for the media to carry it all. Simultaneous inclusion of the same news on the website gives them the information in a timely way and confirms the company's interest in the web visitor.

Equally important are the new SEC rules dealing with fair disclosure. The rules don't require simultaneous web disclosure, although I have argued with the SEC for it, but a company cannot go wrong in having their news on the website at the same instant it hits the wire services. In fact, they'll benefit in the long run.

What do you believe causes companies to be hesitant in regard to timely financial disclosure?
I believe most companies indeed do disclose in a timely way, and that's good for the markets. I also believe the new SEC disclosure rules came to be because a few bad apples, probably some of the high-flying dot-coms with no experience, got carried away with hyping Wall Street. Another way to look at the question might be, why don't companies disclose on their website simultaneously with their media disclosure? I think it's just simply because they haven't thought about it hard enough.

What are the ground rules of disclosure?
I live by several ground rules, particularly in times of a corporate crisis: Get it out. Get it over with. Get on with business.

Is there a company website that successfully accomplished a strong web disclosure?
In the tire recall case, I think Firestone wins the disclosure award hands down. Every utterance made to the press, to Congress, to customers was played back in its entirety, and promptly, on its website. Of course, I don't know the fact of whether the tires were bad or not. But their credibility, especially on their website, was outstanding.

Finally, if you could give one piece of advice in regard to the Internet what would it be?
Learn its potential, understand it, then use it. Did you know Jack Welch, the CEO of General Electric learned how to type when he was in his late 60's, just so he could discover the potential of the web? There's a lesson there.

William, thanks so much for all the great disclosure!