This one comes from Megan Hodes. Time Magazine recently published an article titled, “Don’t Ignore Your Social Media Reputation,” which discusses the (surprising) failure of small businesses to monitor what others post about them. The article discusses a study by the Zeno Group which found that while 71% of large companies concern themselves with social media, only 55% of small companies do the same.
One issue the article doesn’t raise, is the problem of monitoring favorable and non-favorable reviews of both large and small businesses. Companies face two major legal issues in their fight against maintaining a positive on-line reputation; the First Amendment rights of posters and the ability to post anonymously (making potential defamation and or other dignitary wrongs virtually impossible to mount)
Perhaps the inability to monitor the veracity of on-line postings is making them inconsequential. (note to students – is this folly for an article?)
The Time Magazine article is available at http://business.time.com/2013/01/14/dont-ignore-your-social-media-reputation/