Keep in mind that opinions on public social outlets might “skew” the feedback you gain. What I usually express on Facebook is not exactly what I may be thinking or feeling but more of a ploy to get my friends involved and garner social media popularity. There is a sort of group think that happens on social networks.

Originally my reply was more towards Sheehan's statement that big corporate is somehow missing out on the social action when in reality being social will not necessarily make or break their organizations since they have existing means, that are working well, of getting customers to give them money and therefor the urgency to go “social” may not exactly be there. Keep in mind when it comes to large organizations, it's all about the bottom line.

I think that we may be on different courses in your interpretation of my post. I was writing about companies monitoring social media, not participating. That is, is Coca-cola observing what customers are saying about the brand in blogs, Facebook, Twitter etc?

It's less about driving purchase decisions and more about understanding your customer, their behaviors, and their needs.

Fortune 500 companies are already at a large enough position, in which they have a point of reach to their customers throughout their day-to-day lives way before the customer actually engages in social media. For example, a regular 9-5 employee will see a Coca Cola truck/vending machine/product/commercial many more times during their day before they have the convenience to go on their Facebook, Twitter or YouTube account. By the time they get to the media, the customer will have most likely already made a purchasing decision regarding whether or not to use the product of such company (Coca Cola) in this example.

With that said, it is not a mission critical point if Coca Cola is NOT on FaceBook or Twitter. It's a completely different game when it comes to Fortune 500 organizations which already have a reach to their customers or potential customers than a start up who has no kind of identity in place within this world and must make a successful Twitter campaign to drive traffic to their web site.

Twitter is one tactical channel with still low penetration. Just like television before it, or radio before it, or newspaper before it. Certainly there are new capabilities and implications that come with the unique possibilities social media offers. But companies need to understand how – or if – those capabilities fit within their overall business. You know the average age of our CMs – how many of them are on Twitter? You know what we talk to them about – credit limits, POS disruptions, disputes, fraud. How much of that should they be broadcasting to the world?

Is there a way the company can better leverage the tools you are so fond of? Certainly. Is it core to the business? Absolutely not.

Twitter is one tactical channel with still low penetration. Just like television before it, or radio before it, or newspaper before it. Certainly there are new capabilities and implications that come with the unique possibilities social media offers. But companies need to understand how – or if – those capabilities fit within their overall business. You know the average age of our CMs – how many of them are on Twitter? You know what we talk to them about – credit limits, POS disruptions, disputes, fraud. How much of that should they be broadcasting to the world?

Is there a way the company can better leverage the tools you are so fond of? Certainly. Is it core to the business? Absolutely not.

when do you think corporate is finally going to “get it?” how many fortune 500 companies are on twitter, blogging, and have a facebook fan page? the number is very low. if a small business or startup can garner such a loyal following using social media, imagine what a company with deep pockets can do…