We all know people and companies who fit in the category of “wannabe’s”, “me-too’s”, “posers”, and “lemmings”. They all have the same thing in common – wanting to follow the crowd and be recognized for their participation. These terms have taken on extended meanings over the past several years and have been applied to a variety of areas and initiatives – the biggest of which is “being green” or “being a sustainable organization”.
If you were considered to be “green”, it was “cool” to say you were helping the environment. It was also pretty good for trying to pump up sales or create some level of differentiation or increase your “hype factor”. But then things started to unravel. People got educated – they actually started to understand more about what “being green” meant and started challenging organizations to prove it or demonstrate it beyond the “headline” or “slogan” they were using. This caused them to either fish or cut bait – be green or stop saying they were green.
Welcome to Social Media in 2010 – the new “green washing” that is taking place. Companies and organizations everywhere are jumping on the “Social Washing” bandwagon. They are putting up all the cool “shiny objects” called “Social Media Buttons” to make it appear they are using Social Media. But when you click on them to see what they are saying or doing, this is where the air goes out of the balloon rapidly.
It reminds me when you visit the sets in Hollywood, where you can walk down the street and see all these great store fronts and buildings, only to find out they are just the front of the building and there isn’t actually anything behind it. This is the same as “Social Washing” today.
Ask yourself as an organization the key question, “Are we really using social media in a way that is designed to build interaction, engagement, dialog and advocacy or are we just putting up some “shiny objects” to make it appear we are using Social Media?” Be honest with yourself and if the answer is NO, then pull them off your site until you are ready to use it the way it was intended. Don’t get caught “Social Washing” or you will end up in the same place as the “green washers” – embarrassed and eroding your brand value.
This is so true, I don't know how many times I land on a site and I click thru to find a stale twitter account, or something similar.
Working with clients who constantly ask about them when I build their site or blog, my first question is, "and is this social profile alive, vibrant and making conversation"? Often I see a puzzled look or they sadly shake their heads.
And then there are the one's who have been taught or percieve social media in the wrong way. Even though they are active, they are doing it all wrong.
As one colleague and friend says, "they show up and throw up".
thanks for this post!
Bob,
Appreciate the comment and support. Maybe if we all focus on this type of activity we will actually help more companies get serious about how they use (or misuse) social media to build their businesses successfully.
This is a powerful media and the tools are coming into their own – now its time to move beyond the "hype" and into the "real" of social media.