Corporatising the social media landscape in Singapore

It's ironic but not totally with precedent – even as social media is taking off in Singapore and bloggers are jostling for a voice and attention, the death kneel is already being sounded at least for companies intent to cash in by riding on the new wave of people-to-people technology wherever it may lead.

A recent report on CNet quoted analyst Adam Sarner who predicted that "over 75 percent of Fortune 1000 companies with websites will have undertaken some kind of online social-networking initiative for marketing or customer relations purposes. But (he) added that 50 percent of those campaigns will be classified as failures."

Sarner explained that this was due mainly to a quintessential lack of "mutual purpose" – essentially the goals of the company tapping on social media were out of sync with the needs and desires of the intended audience.

Citing Facebook as an example, he said that a vast majority of net citizens joined as a means of social interaction while businesses which tried to peddle their wares on this platform, incurred the wrath of many purist users who saw their move as a commercial intrusion in what is essentially a bohemian residential neighbourhood of sorts - one which believes it is laying the foundation for a social renaissance.

While I do see merit in his arguments, I am not totally convinced that it will be all doom and gloom for the survival of some commerce in the social media landscape even in little Singapore.

The corporate perspective
So where then does that leave companies such as Samsung, HP, Nokia and Lenovo all of whom have been very active in engaging bloggers in Singapore as an extension of their market outreach programme.

If you distill blogging (as a means of market sourcing) to its most basic form – it is still just a means of word-of-mouth referrals of little uncovered gems or in some cases, dire warnings to steer clear of advertising hype. The only difference between a literal word-of-mouth spread and the viral multiplicity of public opinion from blogs is that the latter is put on a platform without boundaries in which anyone with access to the Internet, can be so influenced to a greater or lesser degree based on the quality of the posts and the inherent level of susceptibility on the part of the reader.

For companies, herding bloggers to see, touch and try their products is an inexpensive form of publicity. Their reach may not be the same as in traditional media but for the negligible costs involved, it remains an attractive option for now.

But the blogging scene in Singapore is still in it its honeymoon period. The irrelevant, nonsensical, the rumour-based can still survive with hundreds if not thousands of random readers cruising the back alleys of the Internet for whatever catches their fancy. Success is measured in Stat Counters churning out numbers that often give misleading results rather than a true unbiased measurement of converts to a cause.

Some bloggers have made a name of themselves. Some have achieved a degree of fame and celebrity status, others have happily settled for an outlaw brag badge of notoriety – 21st century rebels without a cause gunning down anything and everything in their wanton path of destruction. Both sides have their fans or at least have links to an undecided majority willing to listen. And with the unlimited real estate offered by the Internet, there remains much room for the two to exist.

Championing a cause
Still the question remains how effective will this platform be for companies to extend their reach. It will probably boil down to an issue of balance and credibility in the manner in which they engage bloggers, the integrity of the bloggers themselves and the receptiveness of a wary public well attuned to the many scams in the online realm.

Companies would be wise indeed to tread carefully in the social media landscape. While bloggers may be a dime a dozen, engaging bloggers as influences to further your cause is more an art than a science. It will ultimately involve much homework in identifying the mature ones with sufficient life-experience, writing skills and a balanced approach, to speak the language of the common man.