Social media is now mainstream media

SOCIAL MEDIA   EDELMAN   PUBLIC RELATIONS

• Edelman on social media
• Brands cannot afford to ignore it
• Give voice to bloggers

Global - Brands can no longer afford to ignore social media, particularly now that the voice of mainstream media is shrinking. That's the view of Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman.

Speaking at the Global Leaders Series held by the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore, Edelman spoke about the new age of public engagement and explained that social media is now mainstream.

"The idea that this is still some kind of niche thing is false," he said.

Edelman also spoke about the fact that authority has been dispersed. With over 100 million people watching videos on YouTube and the massive numbers on networks such as Facebook and Twitter, there is an increasing need to engage with multiple voices through multiple channels.

"It used to be a conversation that would go from the company to the media and the media would have an audience - that's false now. We've moved from an era of media ratification to media justification.

"Public engagement is in fact about advancing shared interests in a world of cross influence - that's the big idea. If you're thinking about how to do public engagement, the first thing to do is to start listening differently."

Edelman explained that businesses must have discussions with new influences. They should open themselves up to input from others because these people want to participate in a better outcome.

However, he warned that in joining the online conversations, businesses must be careful not to take the imperialist attitude of directly informing the conversation. They should also try to avoid using the voice of the CEO but rather a researcher or someone closely involved with the particular subject being mentioned.

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