Facebook has over 1.2 billion users, Twitter has 500 million users, YouTube has almost 500 million unique visitors each month, Google+ has 343 million active users, LinkedIn has over 200 million users, and the list goes on. With this many people in just (1) place, social networks have an obvious impact on business. They are a great place to find, meet, and interact with your customers, but that's not all. The social web forces transparency.
In the old days, before the social web, when everyone used a fake name and birthday on their email and mySpace account, the world of business hadn't changed much. If you made a major blunder that the news picked up, it would be heard far and wide, but in general, it was business as usual. If you managed to upset and lose the business of a "social butterfly" you may lose other business, but only that which was closely or geographically tied to this person.
In the social web, every misstep for a business is magnified and published to thousands, maybe even millions of people. This creates a level of transparency that forces honesty and authenticity within a company. The smart companies have already noticed this, and are using it to their advantage.
The social web isn't just a hangout for people and a billboard for businesses, it is changing the way all of us interact.
How has social affected your company?
I have become very guarded about what I post in the last 2 years, because of the transparency you write about.
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