When companies no longer control the story

An article in the Wall Street Journal today is a fascinating example of how companies have less and less control over how they are perceived. The front page article is about a blog that reveals developments at Anheuser-Busch before the company's PR machine can get its act together. (Article is online but behind a firewall.)

That's not that unusual in and of itself although it's surprising is how many companies seem incapable of dealing with this new world. The unusual part -- the blogger is an employee of Anheuser-Busch's main competitor, Miller Brewing.

So now we have a situation where companies need to monitor more than the media and their customers. They need to monitor their competitors. And a situation where one company is attacking another through its own media.

I am not sure how I would handle this if I were Anheuser-Busch but I would be thinking long and hard about the impact social media has on one's business and figuring out ways to make sure they can be involved in the conversation.