The power of the online interactivism
An interesting article in Saturday’s Guardian explored the phenomenon of ‘interactivism’ in the context of the ongoing Brand/Ross phonecall debacle. Whether we agree with the almost nuclear (reputation wise) fallout that has ensued from the pair’s on air antics, ‘interactivism’ (while a tad academic semantically) has great implications for business, politics and of course, entertainment.
The core themes were fleshed out in the article: such as the power these well-meaning or malignant forces now wield and how pretty much nothing, reputation-wise, is safe. The reputation of people, companies and organisations now ebs and flows rapidly like a wave and can go from good to bad faster than ever before.
What the article missed was the type of people behind this online ‘interactivism’ – if you look at the statistics you won’t find a representative demographic. The people behind these colossal online movements, and they are colossal (try gathering 37,000 people in a town hall to complain about a BBC radio programme), are the vociferous, the politically active, the ones with something to say. But many of them may not be a direct audience of your organisation i.e. some may be abashed listeners but many are likely to have heard about the problem and pitched in with their own ‘two cents’.
The fact is that whether your audiences are those doing the talking everyone will soon enough be reading the damning headlines like everyone else. A big story is quick to gain credence on the web as was seen in the rapid increase in complaint numbers as the Brand/Ross story evolved last week. Someone, somewhere, will voice every question and concern that may have passed through people’s heads and if they have good reason and a good argument, it won’t be long until their arguments hit the mainstream press provoking a bigger and more dangerous media storm than would have occurred otherwise. .
It often comes back to this point though: these are the same kind of people that have always mattered to companies, political parties and other organisations. They’ve been there writing their letters and making their angry phonecalls for years. It’s just they are now immensely more powerful than ever before. It’s now so much easier and quicker for them to voice their views and have a tangible effect on an organisation.
For communicators this is another, from a long line of examples, example of why monitoring and engaging with active and vociferous audiences online is vital. The vociferous audiences will not go away and they will bring your organisation to its knees if it deserves it.
For this reason keeping on top of issues, putting your organisation’s voice out there in an appropriate and truthful way as soon as possible is the only way to retain integrity in an online interactivism storm. Heard this before? It is PR after all…