What keeps S'pore execs awake at night: Negative media publicity worries them

We concur with Weber Shandwick that it is "surprising and alarming" that many executives underestimate the influence of online media.

Even as they repeatedly tell us they are online more than they are watching, listening to or reading traditional television, radio and print offerings, they still tell researchers they think traditional media have a bigger influence on their reputations.

Ironically, the two SPH-owned newspapers which wrote (articles below) about the research by Weber Shandwick and the Economist Intelligence Unit come to two different conclusions:

The Straits Times report says "traditional media is still what matters".

The Business Times report ends with "it [new media] matters because people today live online".

Naturally we think the Business Times is closer to the mark.

That's not to say we advocate a wholesale switch away from traditional media. No new media has ever fully replaced another, as the prevalence of cinema and radio in a world of cable TV and online media indicates.

But for executives to fear reputational damage from tightly controlled traditional media and not from loosely-controlled new media defies logic.

Time to wise up to the well-documented influence bloggers have, and moreover, use these to proactively manage reputations than merely react when someone else has said something about them.

What keeps S'pore execs awake at night
Negative media publicity worries them; traditional media more credible
Business Times
(SINGAPORE) Singapore executives are the world's most concerned about negative stories in the media, research by Weber Shandwick and the Economist Intelligence Unit shows. Some 97 per cent of the Singapore executives surveyed saw negative media coverage as the greatest perceived cause of reputation damage, as compared to 89 per cent in China, 81 per cent in Hong Kong, and 76 per cent in other Asian countries.

Negative media coverage is the greatest perceived cause of reputation damage across the globe. Online customer complaints are also seen as reputation spoilers - and again Singapore executives fret the most about them. These concern 84 per cent of Singapore executives, compared to 71 per cent of executives globally.

The research was conducted among 703 senior executives across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and other markets, in more than 20 industries in 62 countries.

Another interesting finding was that traditional media is considered more influential than online media globally. In fact, Australia, China, and Hong Kong see traditional media as more than twice as influential as new media. Traditional media forms include television, radio and newspapers, while new media forms include websites, blogs and social networks.

Research also found that executives in Asia Pacific, like their global peers, trust traditional media in online forms more than strictly online media itself. Only 8 per cent or less of the global executives surveyed saw online videos, social networking websites, Wikipedia and photo-sharing websites as potential reputational hazards.

With consumer-generated media exploding on the Internet and powerful bloggers on the rise, Weber Shandwick finds it 'surprising and alarming' that executives everywhere vastly overlook new media's potential as a reputation spoiler. However, it is clear that while online media is on the rise, traditional media is still what matters.

S'pore bosses most thin-skinned about bad press: Survey
Straits Times

BOSSES here are far more likely to tear their hair out when their firm's reputation takes a hit than executives anywhere else in the world. About 97 per cent of respondents to a new survey said they were concerned about negative media stories about their firms or themselves, compared with an average of 84 per cent worldwide. Customer complaints on websites or in the media also made executives here uneasy: 84 per cent would be concerned compared with 71 per cent worldwide.

Global public relations firm Weber Shandwick and the Economic Intelligence Unit, a research firm linked to the Economist magazine, surveyed more than 700 senior executives from 62 countries, including 62 from Singapore. Sixty per cent of those surveyed came from firms with annual revenue of more than US$500 million (S$758 million). The survey - conducted online in June and July last year - found that while 99 per cent of executives used the Internet to get a feel of their company's reputation, just 57 per cent worldwide found it 'useful' in their judgment and 47 per cent here found the Internet useful.

Most bosses - 62 per cent worldwide and 66 per cent in Singapore - still found traditional media like newspapers and television news more influential. They were also 'blind to the blogosphere' - online journals where people write about products, culture and issues. 'Like executives elsewhere, those in the Asia-Pacific region believe that the least effective way to protect corporate reputations online is to build relationships with influential bloggers. Only 12 per cent of Asian executives...consider this strategy helpful,' said the survey.

A Weber Shandwick spokesman added that 'today's leaders are increasingly facing new reputational challenges as the Internet grows and new digital platforms gain acceptance'. If a company hits trouble online, its actions could draw 'instant comment from an array of audiences', for which there are no 'digital erasers'. A separate snap poll by Interactive Marketing Magazine seemed to indicate the same wariness towards new media.

Almost half of the 206 respondents said that advertisers should stay away from offensive or defamatory blogs, while another 17 per cent said that advertisers should simply not go near blogs at all.
Yet social media specialist Melvin Yuan, who is also the digital strategies director of public relations firm Waggener Edstrom, felt that there were companies who were 'ahead of the curve'. 'While there are companies that are totally oblivious to new media, there are also those that are very nimble,' he said, adding that 'your reputation in real life is very much affected by what happens online too. It matters because people today live online'.