Jon: I, too, have been guilty of power-driven argument, and I always regret it. In the end, we must remember that we are all people, and that even on the business side, there are people making these errors. Since I make errors, who am i to judge others for theirs? Thus conversation over high and mighty, as you communicated so well.

Good post. This is a topic that we need more conversation around. We should help businesses succeed in the blogosphere, not criticize them for not doing it our way. Like you, I am a blogger and an entrepreneur. I blog not only to listen and learn but also to share and to build my brand image. And I always write with my critical audience in mind: other businesses that can use my services. Anyone who is a business person doesn’t communicate with but one goal in mind. Yes, listening is important. But it is not the only reason to blog. Thanks Geoff for sharing.

David: They do need to play by the rules, per my reference. But we need to stop throttling them every misstep with blown out incidents. Complaining , yes! Brand destruction, not necessarily, at least not on initial, relatively minor blunders. Also, bad PR people will kill social media campaigns. But I think a killed social media campaign is one with no participants rather than bad headlines…

Here are those referred to principles in the Think Liquid post:
1. Do not try to control the message
2. Honesty, ethics and transparencies are musts
3. Participation within the community is marketing (Heuer)
4. Communication to audiences is an out-dated 20th century concept (Rosen) Marketers must take a community approach to social media
5. Use social media to build value for the community
6. Inspire your community with real, exciting information, not corporate propaganda
7. Intelligently manage your media forms (RSS, frequency, etc.) to build a stronger, loyal community

I think we need to remember that social media as we’re discussing it right now is really just an opportunity for business to learn more about what their customers want. But it means businesses have to lecture less and listen more.

Start thinking about folks who lead and participate in online discussions as a slightly different demographic with different needs and interests. We should be in a learning phase. Yes, selling stuff is what businesses do. But you can’t sell stuff if you don’t know what your customers (or your audience) wants, and so we need to spend a little time understanding this new demographic.

business will never please everyone. but they’re in social media for the long run. There needs to be a little more investment in understanding who the participants are and what they want. The best pr professionals will spend some time gathering that knowledge.