Moving on. silently developing its strategy of “social networks” (and in the sight of all!), and taking advantage of the “noise” created with the Google Wave, Google launched about a month ago one of the most disruptive Internet application (not for technology but for what it represents) in recent times: Google SideWiki.

Google SideWiki is a new feature of Firefox and Internet Explorer (strangely, Chrome will come next) that literally transfers to the user what still lacked freedom of expression on the Internet: the possibility of commenting on any product, service or brand on its own website, without any kind of authorization, moderation or intervention of it other than being forced to participate in the “conversation”.

For those who have been on the Internet for some time; for those who have seen discussion forums in Intranets be closed, moderate or never created; for those who have often seen the panic of innovating for freedom of expression and communication; for those who have seen communication being manipulated... SideWiki is fun and hilarious.

The raw and hard truth is:

  • ** Clients trust each other more than their own brand: now they can be “The Voice” on the brand’s website;**

    • The Internet site no longer belongs to the brand: it belongs to customers*;

  • Social Networking is not a “nice to have”. At this time it became a “not so nice to have” and obliges brands to have strategies with resources dedicated to creating a brand conversation strategy. It is critical that each brand develops processes, competencies and policies that ensure the monitoring of conversation, participation and the ability to influence the discussion.

With the current panorama of social networks - Facebook, Twitter, SideWiki, etc. - it is critical to realize that a “Social Networking” strategy begins with the development of an internal strategy, a culture of transparency that provides the training and instilling of values necessary for participation in the discussion between customers and employees.

And it is not worth being reactive to negative content. The only thing to do is... participate. Always in a positive way. After all:

  • *The Customer is always (more and more) right. **