Date: 2007-09-19 Category: Interviews

Matthew Yeomans: The ITWales Interview

by Sali Earls

Matthew Yeomans of Cardiff based Custom Communications has spent 15 years working with major media companies as a journalist and editorial consultant. In that time, he has held the position of senior online editor at The Industry Standard, where he wrote a weekly column documenting the role of technology in globalisation. He has also written for National Geographic, the New York Times, Time, Wired and many other publications.

At the forefront of online and social media, Yeomans ran his first online news site in 1996. He has since developed online editorial strategies for covering major political events and corporate conferences, and is conference director of the annual UK Blogging 4 Business conference.

He spoke to Sali Earls about the relevance of blogs and social media to SMEs.

I read an article about Web 2.0 recently where the journalist asked, "Web 2.0, everyone’s favourite new tech buzzword... What the hell is it?" What’s your interpretation of Web 2.0?

From a corporate point of view Web 2.0 and social media will have a profound effect on corporate communication, but not in the way it has been advertised.

I think that the effects can be grouped into three areas. Firstly, the most profound is ability of consumers to voice their opinions en masse and thereby influence and affect the ways companies operate. For example, HSBC bank recently proposed a withdrawl of free banking to students, provoking a huge reaction - 2,000 complaints were registered on Facebook - forcing the bank to back down.

This kind of action was unprecedented in the days before social media. Companies are now listening to customers and taking their views on board, thereby affecting the way they operate. This is revolutionary.

Secondly, corporate external communications - podcasts, wikis and the like are only useful in the area of external communication if they target the right audience. It’s no use putting your message in a blog if the audience you are targeting does not do blogs!

Finally, I would say corporate internal communications - here the social media tools are more useful as companies are not as fearful of what they say internally.

Are you saying that social media tools are more of an internal corporate communication tool rather than an external one?

No - they are also effective externally providing the company has a clear message, the voice to express this message and it knows its target audience. Many SMEs make very effective use of blogs.

What are the main things companies should include in their blogging policies for employees?

There is a growing amount of case law on this subject, but I am not a lawyer so I am guided by the code of best practice as often defined at conferences. The message is that if a SME has an existing policy relating to what its employess can and cannot say in a public forum - for example, an email policy - then that same policy should be applied to blogs.

A company would not tolerate its name being trashed in an email so why in a blog?

I’m certainly surprised by the amount of information people are willing to freely share on blogs and social networking sites. What do you think the risks are to the business and individual?

This is an interesting cultural question.

Today’s youth shares information more readily; let us not forget that Facebook was started by students as a form of communication. Nowadays it is a mixture of corporate information and fun stuff.

This is an ongoing business and social experiment as to how business will be conducted more informally in the future.

Some companies have banned these social media tools, but I think that it’s aself defence mechanism, as change is occurring so quickly that they do not know how to deal with this phenomenon.

The same happened to the email ten years ago - companies banned the use of email as they claimed it reduced productivity. Try banning it now!

You must decide on a mode of conduct when using these tools as they can certainly make your business stronger.

How should companies deal with spam and negative responses on their blogs? Using your example of HSBC would you say that only large companies can deal with the feedback from social media tools?

Not at all - it’s only conversation. You have to analyse the comments and complaints, decide upon their legitimacy and act accordingly. There is a lot of spouting and spam, but judge them on a case by case basis and sift the relative information.

Take the case of the recent salmonella scare at Cadburys - some blogs dealt with this issue but the majority were about how much they enjoyed Cadburys’ creme eggs!

Companies should not fear this form of communication. It’s a two way street.

The Press Complaints Commission believes that bloggers should sign up to a voluntary code of conduct as they say the internet "lacks forms of redress". What do you think of this?

I am wary of voluntary codes of conduct and political commissions telling people what they should and shouldn’t say. I’m very laissez-faire - it will be easy to see the cream and the gutter. We should steer clear of regulations.

I agree it is a thorny issue, but feel that excessive regulations are harmful.

What technologies in this area will businesses be depending on in the future?

I am sure widgets will be used to relate aspects of their corporate history both internally and externally.

There will also be an increase in social auditing and blog monitoring, as companies pay attention and monitor what customers are saying.

Find out more about Custom Communications at www.customcommunication.co.uk, and the Blogging 4 Business conference at www.blogging4business.co.uk.

Send a comment about this article to editor@itwales.com.