Lately I’ve been travelling a bunch, which has rendered me a tad “out of it”. I didn’t know left from right, but that’s besides the point. Anyways, I knew Vancouver had lost the cup at home, and had a feeling it wouldn’t be a pretty scene… but when I read in the paper there were mass riots, I wasn’t that surprised. Really what made me interested was the fact that the publication I was reading was blaming social media for fueling the fire for people to riot. Now I’m not about to say it wouldn’t of helped spread the word but to say the fools wouldn’t of embarrassed themselves without the help of social would be wrong. Plus I really I think its going to go both ways here.

Since the riots, Vancouver police have been using the photos found on Facebook and Twitter to identify the violent rioters and lay charges. So really, it may of helped fuel it a bit, but really some people that should be held dearly accountable for their actions now will be. This for me is a great example for the accountability social media brings to our daily lives. Not just for us as individual people, but also corporate/political as well.

Before a CEO could hide behind their PR team and carefully prepared speeches they would give on occasion. Today it’s a different playing field. Social media breaks down the walls of an organization and shows it for who everyone is, not just what the Marketing/PR team decides. This means businesses will become increasingly accountable because information will flow much easier (and more so as social media becomes even further common place.)

This means looking ahead we need to be prepared and educated on an organizational level. Have proper social media codes of conduct in place that do not infringe on our staff but empower the to be ambassadors for our company/brand. Not only push conversation out, but understand the right ones to draw in, and this is just the beginning.

Social media is not only the next generation of media, it’s the next generation of communication in general. Accountability is nothing new for an organization, it just brings the issue closer to home when everyone now plays a role. In my opinion though, being scared is far worse a stance then being prepared.