DIGITAL MEDIA

Andrew Collett, PRIA President

The term ‘new media’ is itself something of a misnomer – the Internet has been around in a reasonably mainstream form for a decade and a half already. It’s established and revolutionized the way humans consume information, but at the end of the day, communicating online doesn’t change the rules: you’re still communicating with other human beings. The basic rule of thumb is to treat people online just as you would in real life – with the same sensitivities and authenticity. Online conversation adds a few little extra nuances that don’t exist in other platforms, but this is as much a result of the natural evolution of dialogue as communication habits or preferences.

There’s no question that ethics and media consumption habits are evolving: all you need do is take a look at the way teenagers interact with each other in crowded social environments for evidence. It’s not uncommon to see people chatting idly while listening to iPods and simultaneously sending text messages to others, and eye-contact is fleeting: behaviour that would have been considered at best insensitive and at worst downright rude just a decade ago. It’s estimated that the average person is bombarded by over 5,000 messages before lunch each day from advertisers, TV, radio, friends and family, so perhaps we can expect younger generations to be better multi-taskers than their parents. But what about openness?

Despite the internet’s reputation as a stalking ground for less-savoury types that look to mislead intentionally, one look at Facebook, MySpace and Bebo highlights just how willing young consumers are to share intimate details of their lives online. Far beyond the early days of blogging, where bloggers nearly universally fell into one of two camps: those writing for a business audience or those waxing breathlessly over the contents of their iPod playlists, the proliferation of social networking sites have made it easy for participants to publish details about personal interests, habits, tastes and desires. Though sites like Google and Facebook have faced criticism for offering contextual advertising, many younger consumers aren’t as concerned as their fellow Gen X web users about corporations knowing too much.

As a young, sneaker-and-jeans-clad commuter commented to me last week, “all my details are online and anyone that wants to can learn about me. But I’m just like anyone else, so why should [anyone looking to research my interests] care?”

This fresh approach to sharing information and apparent disregard for personal privacy highlights a significant cultural shift and points towards growing expectation that companies interact in a similar way with their consumers.

Online conversations across social networking sites, blogs, forums, chatrooms and even IRC – to be meaningful – need to be honest, transparent and fast. There’s no point in leaving comments to sit on a blog unanswered for days on end – the audience will have either grown frustrated or moved on by then. Likewise, irreparable brand damage can be done simply by making a blogger or forum member feel misled.

Before dipping your toes in the water with any sort of online engagement, it pays to first line your ducks in a row. Take the time to develop a set of ground rules for members of your organisation to communicate with customers and other stakeholders. This list of social media guidelines should spell out who within the organisation is authorized to comment online on a particular issue, when, and how frequently.

Before wading into an online conversation on behalf of a client or your employer, first seek permission to do so from both anyone you’re representing and the forum moderator. Full disclosure and transparency are of key importance: the more open and honest you are in your engagements and interactions, the better-received your comments will be and the better the impact on the brand you represent. Respond to positive and negative comments the same way – openly, honestly, and with equal vigour, but always remember that there are real people behind the keyboards. If you promise to follow up on a piece of information, do so. Don’t answer questions if you don’t know the answer – find out and follow up. And never, ever lie.

The internet won’t be the last mass-communication medium that humans will ever know, and we’ve shown time and again how good we are at adapting and learning how to make the best use of a new technology. While learning how to use it, it changes us, but the fundamental principles of communicating with other humans are timeless. Only time will tell if the so-called digital natives live to regret the wisdom of sharing every intimate detail online, but in the meantime they have a lot to teach the rest of us.

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