Chat room.
For corporate communicators, the word alone can conjure up some dreaded images: an angry customer ranting about your company electronically (call it e-ranting), even rallying others to share so-called horror stories.
While it never makes sense for you to go online and take these disgruntled folk on, a study by Wertheim+Company shows that execs at 116 publicly owned companies say they aren't directly or indirectly monitoring chat rooms. From our take, that's a risky gamble. Even if you can't log onto these forums on a daily basis, you can outsource this kind of tracking.
The survey, based on responses from members of the Canadian Investor Relations Institute and employees of companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, reveals:
- While very few said they monitor chat rooms, 22 respondents said they would respond to negative statements, allegations or rumors in a chat room. Twenty-five didn't have an opinion;
- On the other hand, nearly all value the power of the Net for disseminating information and nearly all have Web sites, which they monitor regularly.
- The costs of establishing a site varies widely, with the majority spending less than $20,000. That doesn't include maintenance.
(W+C, 416/594-1600)