Web 2.0 - What about Small Business?

What is significant about People, technology, and economics? The three together have created the groundswell. A term coined by Charlene Li and Joseph Bernoff in the Book Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technology. They explain that these three forces together have fashioned a new form of social technology that has brought together people from every corner of the world through technological highways created and maintained by Web 2.0 and internet capabilities. We have far exceeded many expectations in global communications with social platforms such as Facebook and Wikipedia. With the ability to produce personal and business social profiles and user generated content, the business world has shifted to online content generation and instant consumer dialogue. CEO’s and Managers are now blogging. About what? We don’t really know, but their opinions are publicly displayed and are being commented on. Instant PR is taking place all around us.

I had a friend who recently purchased a Dell laptop and was not pleased with the screen so kindly contacted customer service to ask how to return the product. It wasn’t as easy as he expected and soon became disgruntled. He found a Dell VP’s blog and posted his difficulty in returning the product along with some other nasty words, and before you know it, a brand new, shiny Dell laptop is at his doors step. No questions asked. Although most circumstances would not end as such, this is a perfect example of the power of Web 2.0 and how small businesses must be aware of the ease in getting the word out about your product or service, whether it’s good or bad news.

In this new day and age of technology, we are all walking on egg shells. Corporations and small businesses alike must consistently watch the internet for discourse created concerning their product or service. Immediate action must take place in the event of bad conversation in order to prevent a skyrocketing issue. Hush Hush here is a laptop.

What preventative measures do you have established in the event of bad consumer dialogue? Can you monitor the web for content related to your company? Entrepreneurs must set up systems to help monitor what the world is saying about them. But don’t forget, all this open conversation and user generated content can also be a VERY good thing for small business, Think cheap, free, and large untapped market places.