Bates to explore ‘The Power of Social Media’

Driving its pioneering evangelism in the transition to digital communication, Bates Strategic Alliance is set to organise a roundtable on ‘The Power of Social Media’ for CEOs, marketers, media and citizen journalists on 12 June from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Park Street Mews. The event will feature Sri Lankan born author Angelo Fernando who recently launched his perceptive and informative book,

‘Chat Republic’ on social media and how it is steadily changing the global landscape virtually.

Explaining the thinking behind this event, Bates Strategic Alliance Chairman and CEO Nimal Gunewardena stated: “Social media is a powerful platform for connecting, sharing, engaging, chatting, complaining, commending, and influencing, where an ordinary citizen or consumer now wields equal power to the once-powerful marketer or the politician. It can be used to sway public opinion, build or destroy brands, or rally people towards social and political causes.

“To refuse to engage on social media is an invitation to others to take control. So, it is high time that the country’s business leaders, marketers, media and citizens espousing their rights and causes truly understand social media and leverage its power. That is why as a pioneering communications agency, we are driving several workshops and discussions about digital and social media for better understanding and early adoption, and readily agreed to host this event with Angelo’s Sri Lanka book launch.”

The event is set up in a novel Roundtable format where an eminent team of experts explore the topic comprehensively with Angelo Fernando through a two-way interrogation. The interviewers will each straddle a different facet of the topic raging from social media’s use in marketing, adoption by ad agencies, vital value in PR, impact on mainstream editorial media, its mobilisation by citizen journalists and monitoring and analytics. The roundtable panel will comprise the author Angelo Fernando, marketer and branding expert Shehara de Silva, digital creative director Dinesh Perera, social media and PR specialist Ajita Kadirgamar, magazine Editor Shamindra Kulamannage, multiplatform publisher Lakshaman Bandaranayake, citizen journalist Nalaka Gunawardene, and IBM South Asia’s thought-leader Virginia Sharma, and will be moderated by Bates’ CEO Nimal Gunewardena.

Angelo Fernando describes his book as the outcome of 18 years of reporting on the intersection of technology and society, and working in the trenches of digital media. He said: “You are acutely aware of how social media, an enabler of rich dialogue, continues to infect organisations even those that remain on the sidelines. If you’re a business communicator, you probably feel overwhelmed and anxious about the loss of control. Now that social media has been co-opted by activists of the Arab Spring, embedded into customer service, become the dirty little secret in diplomacy and politics, one has to think where your organisation fits in.”

He went onto explain, “How should we operate within this giant speech bubble? We need less amplifiers and more antennas, meaning less broadcasters and more listening posts. Organisations need to engage in the authentic conversations that take place in our Republic of Chatter.” In writing his book, Angelo has drawn insights from thought leaders at Facebook, Pitch Engine, Ogilvy, the Occupy Wall Street movement, the US State Department, Google, and several other organisations in North America, Asia, Australia and Europe. This is an ‘Invitees Only’ event for their clients, interested decision-makers and thought leaders hosted by Bates Strategic Alliance as part of their celebrations to mark the Agency’s 20th anniversary.