Make the Noise

I was having a discussion with a few of my friends of mine earlier today about the importance of transparency in social media and how full disclosure plays an important role. But what does that mean?  In an age where no major corporation ever says anything unless it has been filtered through PR, legal and about ten other departments, is it possible to have full-disclosure on a corporate blog, and does it really provide the open dialog that is crucially needed? Or would egos get in the way, and self-interest take center stage over the corporation?

Many CEO’s rarely have the time to write every single piece of material that will be presented to the world.  Speeches are drafted daily for them.  How is a blog post any different than a speech that has been washed through the cycles that are usually accepted as standard practice?  How is a blog, a written speech of sorts,  not supposed to have these facets of protection built in?  Is it truly dishonest to have a PR firm write a corporate blog?  Can corporations afford to be nakedly honest without any safeguards built in?  Haven’t we seen this be a problem in the past? 

If we are going with full disclosure on everything, shouldn’t every single speech given have a notation somewhere that it was written, edited, tweaked and approved by the laundry list of individuals?  Isn’t a blog nothing more than an expression of the same corporate identity that PR firms represent on a daily basis?

To disclose, or not to disclose, that is the question… whether tis nobler in the mind… ok I’ll stop with the Hamlet speech… I wonder, though, how many people helped Shakespeare craft it?