Global Neighbourhoods (RSS) today posted an interview with Josh Hallett of Hyku, LCC about social media. When asked “what motivates corporations to adopt social media tools?”, Hallett responded:

I really hate to say, ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ or ‘Fear’ but sometimes those are great motivators. They tell themselves about community and engagement, but it’s not until they actually get out there that they realize that those things are real and have a benefit. This is especially the case for organizations that haven’t generally opened themselves up to the customer/public, etc.

While I agree that fear is a convenient barrier to change, the real fear lies in any attempt in changing the status quo which tends to destabilize the pillars of power. In other words, the dollars start flowing erratically thus cannot be controlled by the usual suspects.

Let’s be real: corporations aren’t afraid of tools like RSS and instant messaging or even cute destinations like Twitter, Flickr, Jaiku, Facebook, and Second Life. They wait until markets become stable and commoditized. Then they can sweep in and steal your lunch.

Gotta love the free market.

Filed under: Rants, Social Media

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