Social media such as internet bulletin boards and blogs give marketers direct access to consumer insights, for peanuts. That's why small organizations are the early adopters of social media. It's also why they grow big, fast.

Jane Genova

There's a chapter titled "Little Companies, Long Reach," in the 2006 book Naked Conversations, co-authored by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel. It presents an excellent case for opening your organization to two-way communications and ushering in the free ideas that inevitably follow. Not to mention the opportunity for inexpensive test marketing and detection of early warnings.

So why are so many large organizations sticking to old-media one-way websites? Control. Many successful large organizations won't risk surrendering control over their messages. Complete top-down control has been their modus operandi since the post-World War II economic boom.

So how can a one-way communicator reduce the apparent risk of two-way communications for a cautious tryout? Issue clear guidelines about what's okay to post. Screen comments before they're public. Establish a password-only blog, as DaimlerChrysler has recently done for select media companies. And train a rapid-response team for course correction if problems arise.

Jane Genova, writer and marketing communications consultant, may also be found blogging.