Brands were used to buying eyeballs on web sites. But no more. This is an inadequate policy in the social media age. Brands need to forge on-going relationships, build and become part of communities to protect their reputations.

Also brands need to become publishers and must distribute relevant content to their audiences. Brands used to rely upon other people creating content and they would fill in the space in between. But now they need to participate. The audience is no longer passive and monolithic. It is active, it is sharing, it is commenting,tweeting, blogging, it is book marking and it is talking 24/7 in real time.

This piece makes some good points and explores the issue in more detail.