Opinion: Allowing your customers and readers in on the action may seem risky, but it's the best alternative.If there is one thing that's true about the Web 2.0 hype it's that we've come to a point in the technical evolution of the Web where we are seeing a true read/write Web.
You may be asking what I mean when I say "read/write Web." Sir Tim Berners-Lee originally conceived the idea. In a wonderful essay, Richard MacManus does a very good job of explaining that vision.
"The Web was never just supposed to be a one-way publishing system, but the first decade of the Web has been dominated by a tool which has been read-only—the Web browser. The goal now is to convert the Web into a two-way system. Ordinary people should be able to write to the Web, just as easily as they can browse and read it."
Sure, we've had forums for a while, and wikis aren't exactly revolutionary. We know commenting on Weblogs is nothing all that new, and the sheer amount of blogs out there tells us that, yes, just about anyone can now write the Web.
However, we're still seeing many publications, organizations and businesses struggle to come to terms with the notion. Allowing your customers and readers in on the action is risky. What if they say something negative? What if they break the rules?
I'd say that most companies need to embrace the read/write Web. It's almost too risky not to.
Let 'em in!
Two-way dialogue is a great way to deal with things like customer service. By letting your audience participate in conversations about your services, products or what have you, you are not only helping them get what they need, you are helping yourself.
Let's look at small businesses and blogs as an example. In a great article by Chris Campbell he makes the case for small businesses using blogs for customer service.
"People want to be heard and a blog allows that communication to take place. With your blog, you are afforded the opportunity to improve customer relations through comments. Here, you can allow your company's personality to shine by publicly dealing with complaints, comments and recommendations. Respond to feedback with respect, openness and honesty and you may earn another rare gift in the business world for when things go wrong—a second chance."
Sure, if you open your small business blog to allow comments someone might say something negative. What you need to realize is that they don't need your blog to do that.
We live in a time when personal, amateur publishers with thousands of readers can have a real effect by talking about products, services and people on their own sites. By embracing the technology yourself, and dealing with criticism and the like head-on, you can turn this medium to your advantage.
What might seem like a risk is actually an amazing opportunity to get into the heads of the people that truly affect your bottom line. You can learn from those who participate in two-way dialogue on your Web site and you can take that knowledge to improve your business.
Power to (and from) the people
Regardless of how you feel about the ability of "amateurs" to publish on the Web, or the ability for your customers to weigh in vocally and visibly via blogs, comments or forums, these things aren't going to go away.
The tools are truly now in the hands of the people, whether you like it or not. Dan Gilmore talks about the ever-evolving tool set that people have available to them to participate in media.
Click here to read a Reporter's Notebook from the Web 2.0 conference.
"The tools of grassroots journalism run the gamut from the simplest e-mail list, in which everyone on the list receives copies of all messages; to Weblogs, journals written in reverse chronological order; to sophisticated content-management systems used for publishing content to the Web; and to syndication tools that allow anyone to subscribe to anyone else's content.
"The tools also include handheld devices such as camera-equipped mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). What they have in common is a reliance on the contributions of individuals to a larger whole, rising from the bottom up."
Companies and corporations can use those tools as well, to help bring their people into a constructive two-way discussion. In my opinion it's in everyone's best interests to join 'em rather than try and avoid the issue or, even worse, lock them out.
If you've been thinking about adding a blog to your site, or opening your publication up for comments, now might be the time to make the leap. You can start slow and try and find a happy medium that works for you. But it's time to open things up a bit and let the people in.
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