Actics Blog

I’ve been invited to talk about Actics at a seminar on Web 2.0 and Social Software at Ålborg University October 6. I’m looking forward to discuss the genuine long term value of these overly hyped phenomena with some nice academically calm and reasonable people (not to mention the high spirited dinner afterward Here’s what I’m planning to talk about (my abstract):

The pressure on companies to act on their societal responsibility intensified during the nineties and nearly exploded after the sudden collapses of corporate role models early in the new millennium. Yet, Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR as the response of the business world was named, never really got beyond lip service.Meanwhile, a disorganized but much more severe threat to public agents lacking integrity arose in the blogosphere. Bloggers revealing politicians polishing their curriculum and companies fatally ignoring the wrong unsatisfied customers, became everyday news. Today, a largely defensive and skeptic establishment viewing the web as a liability and taking ‘social’ for ‘mob’ stand opposed to web ideologists arguing for a utopia of co-creation, democratization and diversity.

I’ll speak from within the battlefield and especially Actics’ efforts to invigorate CSR by empowering both stakeholders and companies through social software - what I call CSR 2.0. By allowing stakeholders to evaluate the ethical performance of public agents (e.g. their employer), our web application provide leverage to the wishes and concerns of those influenced by the choices of major social players. For companies willing to open up for dialogue with their stakeholders, this feedback represent unique sensors into valuable cultural capital.

Link to seminar web page