Social media, much like most new technologies, will inevitably be incorporated into corporate operations and processes in a range of ways - some successfully and some with less successfully. It's an evolutionary thing.


However, the issue for directors, management and shareholders, is the opportunity and threat that it can create for each. I suspect that a strong social media community of, say, shareholders in a particular company, can bring a lot of pressure to bear on the board and management - particularly when "a company insider" joins the social media community and is able to provide contrary information to that provided by the Chairman, management and the company's Press Office.

How much more incendiary will this become if a member of the press, brokerage or analyst communities is also a member of that company's social media community?

The management of stakeholder (and especially shareholder) expectations and the establishment of "one corporate truth" will become extremely challenging. Inevitably this will affect confidence in the company, its board and its managers.