This post isn't about whether or not AMD makes an X1950Pro AGP 512 video card that works with Vista or not. I don't know, and personally I don't care. The point of this post is whether or not, if you're in the corporate world, you currently have any idea what a lone individual in dispute with you can do to your reputation online, globally, overnight? Case in point: are you prepared to handle this.

That link takes you to a press release on a site called DesignerToday.com. In the release, a disgruntled consumer details his or her extreme displeasure with a product from AMD and his or her establishment of a website apparently devoted entirely to shining a spotlight on AMD's presumed deficiencies. The press release presents at least some compelling evidence that this lone protest powered by the Internet is being noted by some, worldwide, in the metasphere.

If you don't already have a plan and systems in place for this eventuality and something like this happens to your company, you're at an extreme disadvantage. That's because without an existing familiarity with the blogosphere you didn't see it coming, you have no idea whether this is one person picketing your parking lot or one guy with 5,000 followers; and since you're probably not engaging social media tactics of your own making and volition, you're without a ready response platform where you can answer such complaints and enlist the support of satisfied customers who could be useful in countering the product assertions of others, whether a lone voice or a mob.

In fairness to AMD in this instance, they do have some support forums. They do have developer blogs. They don't appear to have an executive-driven, high-level, online community where their brand could be explained, enhanced, defended, and discussed. Without such a thing, what are your options? If I were Mr. Hector de J. Ruiz, Ph.D., who is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AMD, I'd grab the product manager and call or visit this protester and try to resolve the issue. Ordinarily I'd say the chief marketing executive might do this, but AMD's executive management team as evidenced by this doesn't seem to have one. I guess Mr. Phil Hester could do it? In any event, AMD has a chance even at this stage to convert this person into an AMD advocate if they play this right.

If the situation can't be resolved directly, and AMD is without a high level social media platform, it's way too late and way too lame to start one just for this reason. Traditional PR isn't going to help much, if at all. That leaves the lawyers, as usual, of course. But that blunt instrument only plays into the hands of a lone protester who can position the legal action as the last resort of yet another corporation that's lost touch with consumers.

Folks, you're going to see more and more and more of this sort of thing in 2008 and beyond. Many of the online protests will be without merit. Some will be based on legitimate complaints. All will either temporarily or permanently affect your corporate reputation. All will likely be very skilled at website and community building. How you handle it, if it happens, depends on what you do now to prepare yourself, inform yourself, and grow comfortable with the same social media tools and techniques that are the growing source of power among consumers today.

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I remember a guy saying that while we all love sausage, we don't necessarily want to know how it is made. This article, about social media, Wikipedia, and PR people, is a little like getting an up close and personal look at how sausage is made, or, in this case, how plain facts get twisted; how the truth gets ground up; how marketing-speak tries to keep all things nice and neat like the way casings made from pig intestines helps make sausage appealing enough to actually swallow.

This excerpt very aptly summarizes the main point:

Are there rules of engagement for using Wikipedia in PR or marketing for a client? Constantin Basturea, a PR practitioner and director of social media strategies at Converseon, reminds us that although Wikipedia is "the encyclopedia anyone can edit," this applies to anyone except PR practitioners.

Why? "Because Wikipedia considers creating or editing an entry for a client a conflict of interest," he says. In fact, it is detailed in the site's conflict of interest behavioral guideline. That means a lot of people inside and outside an organization are not allowed to edit an entry about that organization.

Now, if you bother to examine the article — it comes to you by the way courtesy of LinusInsider and is written by Angelo Fernando — you'll see several excellent examples of how various well-known companies and their sponsors have attempted to burnish the facts.

I speak from long-experience in the PR business when I say this is absolutely true. PR people get paid to put the very best face on things. As such, some of the not so great facts and figures go through a process of selective reduction. To not do this is to risk getting fired by the client. Yet, to do it paints everything we PR people say or do with a coat of gloss that ordinary people in today's social media world have become skilled at detecting and resenting and dismissing. That's why, in my opinion, social media is here to stay and why the traditional PR profession must change or face the distinction of extinction.

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Brands with something to hide may be caught out by social networkers, but those who provide useful content and invest in meaningful dialogue will reap the benefits of positive 'word of mouse'.

That's the last sentence in this report by Jenny Hoffbrand appearing today in Precision Marketing Magazine. What this item says about the 'Recommendation Generation' may be of interest to you if a major brand is under your stewardship. Don't have time? Then here's a summary: you snooze, you lose.

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