Is communication a choice?

February 6th, 2010 § 3

Picture of lots of Phones


Today’s post is inspired by a local politician here in Umea, Sweden. I’ve been thinking about his particular matter for a while now but never really known how to express it.

So what’s the deal?

Well, today there was an article in the newspaper where a politician had been asked by a tv company (TV4) if he wanted to answer some questions in a facebook group for the upcoming Swedish election in 2010.

The response that was given, however, was in no way a pleasant one. He replied by telling them that “You don’t know a fucking shit.” He continued by saying that “They have no idea how many questions I answer, and still they’re saying that we don’t”.

TV4 stated that “Swedish politicians don’t see the importance in answering questions regarding the election”. This made the politician furious.

The question at hand then is: Is communication a choice in today’s society? Is it for politicians?

The error

I myself highly doubt that the statement was made to provoke, but I’ll try to be objective in the matter, so let’s think about the question instead.

The error, as I see it, is that politicians still think that they can control where and when to speak, and never deal with the consequences of what they’re saying. T

he fact of the matter is that this isn’t really how it works these days.

If you want to have people voting for you today, you will have to be everywhere and listen and respond accordingly.On the other hand, I fully understand that people will not be able to respond to everything out there, it’s downright impossible sometimes.

No. What matters is this: That you’re at least trying. People will see this immediately, and they will also feel a better connection with a person who is at least trying to connect with them rather than with a person who doesn’t give a damn and never replies. When you have a blog you’re, in my opinion, obliged to respond to as many comments as you possibly can. Don’t expect a two way communication medium to be accepted as a trash can for your thoughts. See it as a way of sharing and exchanging thoughts with other people.

Transparency and being true to your followers

Newsflash: The internet environment is constantly changing. This goes for the way we communicate too. Words such as “social media” and “transparency” are real trendy today. I’ve covered social media in another post so let’s talk about being transparent instead.

I constantly hear people saying: “We have to be transparent with our business”. But what is transparency really about?

For me transparency is to give people an opportunity to gain insight in a business,organisation or other public group so that they don’t have to feel deceived or uncertain of what the company is all about.

There are of course different levels of transparency and I think it’s up to every company to decide where their limit is. You might not want to reveal the latest invention to your twitter followers, but your share holders will still want to know that you’re not building an atom bomb with the help of their money.

So how does this tie in with politicians and blogs?

Well I think that this is exactly the same problem as the companies need to solve. As a politician you HAVE TO be transparent with your thoughts, elaborate and explain to your followers. How else are they going to know what you really mean?

In business you have to be transparent about your products and as a politician you have to be transparent about your ideas and the way you think.

Consequences

How can this non responsiveness be interpreted then?

  • You don’t care: This is an obvious one. If you don’ talk to people you probably don’t care about them either? And in response to this non-caring behaviour you might get: “Why should I care if this person doesn’t care about me?” People will start to question your motives for writing.
  • You’re scared: You don’t have the guts to defend what you stand for. If you had an answer you would’ve given it to me, so that means you must have no answer. (This is the way I interpret silence most often when I ask companies about their lack of social media strategy)
  • You can’t stand by your word: Similar to above, but in this case people interpret you as someone who just “poops out random articles without having any knowledge in the

How to fix it

  • Show people that you care: This is kind of reiterated from my last post, but it’s so crucial. There is no other way to build (strong) bonds than caring. At least show them that you’re trying and really doing your best to make good things happen.
  • You will have to commit: Realize deeply that you will have to commit to this way of communication if it’s going to work out. Caring takes time, but if you really love people and what you are doing, this won’t be a problem.
  • If you’re still aren’t convinced: If you still aren’t totally convinced that caring is the way to go, see it this way. Responding gives you an opportunity to develop and elaborate your thoughts further. It becomes an extension of your blog post/article “Q & A”-style. Just explain further how you feel and what you mean by replying to comments and see how that goes. What do you have to loose?


So that’s about it for now. I hope you enjoyed the article, and if you did I’d be thrilled if you could spare a second and Tweet it out so that other’s can enjoy it too :) A stumble is always appreciated too!

Today’s question: Do you think public persons can choose freely if they want to connect with people or not, without it hurting their brand?


All the best,

Jonas

Photo credit: Craig A Rodway

§ 3 Responses to “Is communication a choice?”