I've been reading the back and forth conversation about the ownership of social media over on Shel Holtz's blog.
This subject keeps cropping up more and more. It reminds me that far too many folks in corporate would rather focus on turf ownership than quality strategy. It's like a never-ending game of Monopoly gone horribly wrong. It makes me feel like I want to break out in hives.
Mitch Joel says that digital agencies should own the social media landscape. He says that traditional advertising agencies struggle with adding digital strategies to the pot and PR firms don't have the technical savvy to execute (I agree with this bit since this is a service that my company provides -- quite lucratively -- to PR firms).
Shel makes a good point by saying that it's not about "ownership" per se. Shel says:
With or without a Chief Repuation Officer, though, the accountability for a company’s social media belongs inside the organization.
My take is a bit different:
1. I agree that it isn't about ownership. And, yes, the final, line item accountability is definitely an internal matter.
Recently I spoke at the Social Media Summit and I was asked this same "ownership" question. My answer then is my answer now: corporations are so busy trying to work in this new space with old school business models, it's no wonder they're not making any headway.
The entire premise of social media is the word "social." Get it? As in, being friendly and sharing.
Now, I'm not one of these airy-fairy people who thinks that business is a democracy -- because it ain't -- but a company's social media efforts and governance needs to be shared amongst whatever departments and parties make sense for that particular company.
If it's just two departments, then so be it. If it's five then it's five -- as long as it's organized, of course.
2. Along the same lines, I think all the nuts-and-bolts aspects of social media should be outsourced -- organizations have better things to do than learning how to set up a Movable Type infrastructure, but the conversation, content and community should be watched over by the company.
3. Let we not forget that the real owners are the community members themselves. (Yep, I just had the throw that one in.)
Posted by Lena West on February 12, 2008 04:00 AM
