Live from Social Media & Stakeholder Engagement: moving away from phony

I knew he was coming, but I was still impressed to see Bjorn Edlund, former Executive VP of Royal Dutch Shell speaking at today's Social Media and Stakeholder Engagement Conference (network online!). He got involved with Justmeans in part because of the fascinating and long conversation about Ken Saro-Wiwa. He clearly approved of the chance to engage with the new social media. I remember when he first joined the conversation; it was a bit thrilling, being able to actually 'talk' with a senior level manager about sustainable development and other issues that we cared about.

He reflected on the struggles that the organisations went through as it tried to understand and decide how to work with social media. He defined the different types of media - old media: corporate sites, publications. Bought media: advertisements, billboards, etc. Earned Media: interactions with journalists and other 'traditional' media. Social Media: overlays all of this, whether it is consumers who are filling up their car or citizens outraged about tar sands.

There's a tension - in the 'old days', the technology and the finance is what matters. But in the 'new world', the 'non-technical risk' - ie, environmental and social/community impact - really matters. In the 'new world', social networking is a significant impact. And while Shell remains highly profit-driven, they are increasingly concerned with community and environmental risks, both actual and perceived. In this way, the corporate DNA is slowly, slowly shifting - and social media is one of the driving elements of that shift.

In this 'new world', Management recognises the need to adapt. There are structural and managerial challenges, and companies make mistakes - but those mistakes enable greater learning. It used to be, the wording really matters. Now, if you want people to engage in conversations, you can't come up with legalise, and technical -language. The control freaks have a hard time - but you have to give up some control.

20,000 mentions of Shell on blogs and online discussion groups, and are trying to get the right kind of buzz and monitoring? they now have blogs, dialogues, twitter, special interests (environmental), CSR sites, a channel on YouTube, and media-savvy recruitment officers who are the most prolific users of social media.

His insights on changing senior leadership: give them the facts. Tell them how it works. 'There's something around the societal competence of managers which is lacking. Business schools have largely failed at this - there is a need for greater training. But in the short term, say that businesses and markets are conversations, and social media is part of this. We did opinion polls...and found that people thought better of us when we engaged in social media."