Social Media Needs Ombudsmen

It’s coming.

The corruption, the compromises, the drama and infighting, the public and private squabbles, the cocktail parties turned fistfights. Whenever there is a great deal of treasure to be had, the only thing you can be sure of is malfeasance.

Companies and organizations that are gearing up to be the bulwarks of the social media ecosystem need to install Ombudsman.

What is an Ombudsman?

From Wikipedia:

An ombudsman (conventional English plural: ombudsmen) is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing the broad scope of constituent interests.

Usually appointed by the organization, but sometimes elected by the constituency, the ombudsman may, for example, investigate constituent complaints relating to the organization and attempt to resolve them, usually through recommendations (binding or not) or mediation. Ombudsmen sometimes identify organizational roadblocks running counter to constituent interests.

Ombudsman have become familiar roles at news organizations in the past few years. Both the Washington Post and the New York Times have prominent Ombudsman. But you may ask what kind of authority they have. It’s a good question and the answer is no one is really sure. Because after all Ombudsman work and are paid by the organization. Yet they are paid to self-correct the organization when actions are taken (in this case, the way articles are written). They are listened to by a certain section of the chattering class, and therefore they do have some authority. It’s far from a perfect situation but when have we ever let perfect be the enemy of good in social media?

So Why Does Social Media Need Ombudsman?

What I am suggesting is that firms, organizations and entities operating in social media look very seriously at retaining independent, yet internal, critics. Simply put, social media needs people to keep it honest. Right now we are at the cusp of a HUGE bubble, where social media’s impact on our culture, our economy, our work force, the very fabric of our connections to one another and the places we go and the products we consume, that we need to inculcate a programme of self-analysis, and of self-correction.

Self-correction is always more preferable than waiting for an outside critic to come along. Too much can slip through the cracks.

The overwhelming reason that social media firms including companies, blogs, charities, event firms, marketing agencies need ombudsman is because social media has at its very core principles that fit right in with self-analysis. Transparency and authenticity are constantly heralded, rightly so I might add, as hallmarks of successful social media interactions.

The problem is that honesty and authenticity, transparency and immediacy become the FIRST things to go right out the door. They are the compromises that are made. Compromises over privacy (Facebook), compromises over hiring, over branding, and eventually over government regulation or interference, which isn’t far from occurring.

In fact, all of these things are right around the corner. And the social media community needs to come to terms with its need for internal critics. It is the only thing that is going to hold our feet to the fire, ensuring that we, as a community, don’t stray too far from the very things that have animated the incredible rise to power, profits and cultural potability. Keep em honest!

Image courtesy of cdrummbks on Flickr

Tagged as: Critic, Social Media Ombudsman