The title of the article by the Italian philosopher Gloria Origgi is powerful and compelling.
The implications of this fact on all human activity related to communication can be summarized as follows:
No more “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about”.
Oscar Wilde, author of the phrase, would end up in jail again today, but this time, because of naïve.
When paying attention to the news, you see a lot of examples of this change of era:
- Abercrombie and Fitch offered Jersey Shore contestants “substantial payments” for ceasing to use their brands. What company would have considered it detrimental to their interests if their products were displayed in primetime only 10 years ago?
- The cables leaked by Wikileaks on Saudi “diplomacy” roughly reveal the following: Saudi Arabia disbursed astronomical amounts to avoid talking about Saudi Arabia. Not to censor negative information, nor to place positive news about his regime in the international media. A strategy that would not have succeeded in the information age.
- Teenagers left Facebook to Instagram and Snapchat because they allow them, the first with still photos and the second with ephemeral content, to keep control of their reputation.
- The Punic plot that was sold to PP politicians a network of digital media whose sole purpose was to generate noise that would hide negative news.
- The NSA spied on the sex lives of Internet activists to damage their reputation.
The ability to manage an online reputation crisis is even more valuable than the ability to make content go viral.
Look around you, in your everyday environment, and you will discover more examples that we no longer live in the information age. The survival of your organization will depend on it.