The internet presents amazing opportunities – but also a lot of challenges – for organizations who have been (until now) very traditional in their approach to external communications. The opportunity for organizations like foundations, non-profit organizations, and government agencies, is how and where to use the web for greater openness and interactivity. I was at a communications conference recently and heard a lot of questions about the challenges in doing this, as well as some interesting answers from Clay Shirky, internet strategist and author.
I was at the annual conference of the Communication Network and heard discussions among foundation communications staff that they are very interested in being more successful in their use of the web — they want to become more prominent, more credible, and more influential online. And many of them realize that to accomplish this they need to be more open and engaged with their key audiences and with the public on the Internet.
But this all makes them nervous! They know that they can be more open and engaged online by using blogs, by sharing more of their internal discussions or information, by inviting comment and input, or by participating in social media and social networking sites – and other “Web 2.0” strategies. However, the thought of doing this worries them – because of the staff time they think it will take, and because of the perceived risk of losing control of their “messages”. Their communications work has traditionally been about crafting and disseminating carefully controlled messages – and so more openly inviting input (“but what if people say bad things about us?!”) is a big concern to them. TWD57V4YGZ76 Continue reading ‘How To Be More Transparent and Engaged Online? Ideas from Clay Shirky’
