George Bush’s online on-camera interview this week on the web site Politico marks a turning point in the use of the media — one that the C-suite ought to take note of.
The interview itself is unremarkable — it’s the decision to do an interview online that’s worth noting. Somewhere in the White House communications machinery, someone decided it was worth the President’s time to sit down for an interview that wouldn’t be seen on the major networks and cable, only online. That’s significant.
In terms of national politics, you can be sure it’s not the last time a President will be interviewed exclusively online — national politicians are actually a bit more willing to try to reach audiences through new media than business executives.
Where this development really ought to reverberate is in the executive suites of American corporations. That’s where the old media hold-outs are holed up.
Forward-thinking corporations are already using online communications to reach new audiences and demonstrate that they “get it” when it comes to new forms of communication. Unfortunately, that’s still a tiny minority of the business community — after all, only 13% of the Fortune 500 even have blogs. The predominant culture at this point seems to be a) stick your head in the sand and b) force your communications people to “prove” why the company should have an online PR strategy.
Well, here’s another proof point — if it’s good enough for Bush, it should be good enough for America’s business leaders.
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Need more fodder? Ted Demopoulos of the Blogging for Business site has posted his slides from a recent speech called “How to Sell Blogging to Your CEO and Clients.”
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