Commentary

Half-awake on a recent Sunday morning, making a cup of tea to soothe the previous night’s over-indulgence, my house mate, Gill, suddenly screamed for help from the living room. Alarmed, I hurried out of the kitchen to face a deeply distressing sight.

Since the beginning of corporate social media, many companies have realised there’s a lot more to effective online reputation management than just posting a tweet or two from the corporate Twitter profile.

The wounds inflicted on companies by the financial crisis are beginning to heal. But as shareholders recover from the assaults of recession, and as business confidence slowly revives after the scandals of fat cats and dodgy derivatives, there’s one victim that’s still in intensive care: trust.

Telling stories is part of what it means to be human and has been central to civilisation since the dawn of time. Creation myths explained where we came from. Hunting scenes celebrated and inspired the deeds upon which our survival depended. And fireside legends preserved tribal memory and forged collective identity.