The power of social media

Social media’s usefulness as a marketing tool is widely known and exploited by businesses keen to demonstrate how ‘on trend’ and approachable they are. Used appropriately and with the right safeguards in place, social media can be an effective resource for enterprises in today’s interconnected world. The new medium is also providing cutting edge tools to professionals engaged in disseminating information about their company’s business activities.

Fact is, the process of creating and distributing information and knowledge has changed. Take an example of a press release of the new millennium: it is not plain text on paper; it can be a webpage or an email with links to videos, it can direct the reader to a Facebook page where interested communities are already interacting, it can ensure that the company information can go viral with embedded links to Twitter and provide access to additional information through links to slide decks on SlideShare. Amazing, isn’t it?

With the democratisation of media, it is possible to reach decision-makers and customers directly. It is easy to assume that social media is forcing communicators to reinvent themselves. In reality, social media is playing a far larger role: it is forcing communicators to go back to their roots.

A quick recap. Documents were the norm in the 80s which used to be sent out in a physical form. To hasten the process, fax machines were used. Towards the late 90s, e-mail became an alternative delivery method. Documents pertaining to company announcements, investor information, etc went as

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