on the rise of social media.

I don't think Ted McConnell, Proctor & Gamble's general manager-interactive marketing and innovation quite understands social media. According to an article in Advertising Age, McConnell is quoted as saying that it impossible to monetize something "where someone is breaking up with their girlfriend." He also said that calling social media "consumer generated media" is predatory. He doesn't think that social media sites like Face Book are a good place for his company to advertise.

It is surprising to me that an executive with the words interactive marketing in his title would take such a stance toward Web 2.0. Of course, when McConnell equates social media with advertising that should be a clue right there about his knowledge. Social media is the opposite of advertising. It seeks to eliminate advertising by providing consumers with information unfiltered by the seller.

As any public relations person who knows what they are doing can tell you, it is important to always tell the truth in an unvarnished way. Make a mistake - admit it, correct it and move on. Not always so in advertising. How many ads have you seen lately for Detroit made cars talking about how they are the best in class? Well, the consumer is not buying that right now. Not after all the years they have been hoodwinked.

I can see where advertisers would not like or understand social media. Maybe it's because people feel it's the best source of information. As reported in the eighth annual Burston-Marsteller/PR Week CEO survey , 62 percent of the 200 CEOs surveyed think social media can have an effect on a company's reputation. One only to look at this week's Motrin debacle to understand how true that is. In two days, a group of Moms using Twitter changed a major brand's advertising efforts. Although the same survey indicates CEOs are not yet diving into the social media pool, they seem to understand its power.

The bottom line is that the method for delivering the message is shifting and shifting fast. Now consumers help shape the message and some cases, decide what the message is to be. Woe to the company that does not understand. To use an expression from the '60s, people in marketing now "have to lead, follow, or get out of the way."