I think discussion on different view points is what it’s all about. Stimulates great debate and allows you to see different aspects off an argument to enable you to form your own informed opinion.

Social media is, as you mentioned, a new way of doing promotion and increasing brand awareness. I think it is better to let the word out and let the customers say what they think about your company. Bad and good. If there is any bad things said about your company or the products/services you offer, then you should interact with those angry people who think you are “full of shit” and try to resolve the issue constructively (trying to solve the issue so that that those angry customers can start to support you positively instead of negatively).

Social media is a totally new ball game in the world of promotion. In the old days you did your marketing etc and customers came in. But there wasn’t that much talk about bad word-of-mouth trends. And in the old days (before the internet era) the word was spread very slowly in deed. Today, the word can be spread around the world in 1 hour or less. So today, more than ever, it pays to be a pro-active company and be helpful instead of scornful and ignorant. The best marketing you can get is that of your customers. And besides: you can’t recieve any cheaper marketing than that of your customers. So it is a win-win.

I say like you: why have only one voice when you can have millions of supporters pushing your product/service? For free? It doesn’t make sense to limit yourself to one voice which you need to pay for as well.