The use of social media started little over a year ago at Dutch company Soil & More. "In July 2011 a new version of our website came online and we decided to use social media as a way to stay in touch with our clients," says Miriam Bogatzki. "Right now, we are using twitter, facebook and Youtube. We show our activities and achievements, and share topics that we think are relevant to our contacts. For MVO Nederland we participate in the project 'achievers live', a blog on which we, and a few other companies, tell about our experiences abroad. It's pretty neat sharing these things with other people."
"An increasing number of businesses started utilizing social media, although it's hard to say what the pros and cons are after such a short amount of time. All we can say so far is that we are reaching a lot of people. The costs are low and it's easy to stay updated on relevant topics. The downside, I guess, is the anonymity of the user. And the use of these media can result in negative publicity."
Miriam expects businesses to use online media more and more in the near future. "Whether or not a given company should really go for it is hard to say. It depends on the goals, the nature and the service of that company. I think the trick is to apply these media in the right way. Businesses should take into consideration the care it takes to correspond with the outside world like this. Be sure of what you're hoping to achieve."