The picketing of premises is part of any well-run large company’s risk management scenarios. But in this new media environment companies can no longer ignore the power of the blog, the forum or the virtual world.
IBM is certainly no stranger to the virtual world of Second Life. They have a major presence there.
Still I wonder whether their corporate communications people were prepared for a virtual world picket, in this case by the Union that represents disgruntled Italian employees.
Do those of you who represent large companies with presence in Second Life have an avatar ready for such a scenario? If so, would you have that ’spokesavatar’ issue statements ‘in world’, take questions and answers or would they simply redirect the media to the appropriate official channels for comment?
There are no simple answers…
As communications professionals we are in a unique position to also help traditional media interpret images from virtual worlds.
For instance the image in The Register’s story shows a figure (or avatar) holding a placard. They are in ‘Busy’ Mode which is a bit like ‘out of office’. What does this say about the union’s real commitment to their members, if they are not there to answer questions (or the staff member’s ire) and was the media alerted to this fact?
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