On Social Media ‘Command Centres’

I've had a bit of a rant before about some of the language we use in our industry (particularly the military analogies). But one increasingly common phrase that still bemuses me somewhat is 'Social Media Command Centre'. For all the talk about social media being the great leveller, the egalitarian, democratic, more human face of marketing, the thing we seem to want to do with it is wrap it up in something that reverberates with controlling phraseology.

You might say that in the scheme of things what we call stuff like this is a minor matter but the thing is, I think the terminology we use is important. As this piece points out the use of 'distancing language' (stuff like 'users', 'content' – I use these words myself but I take the point) is not helpful in encouraging empathy between companies and people. And the perpetuation of militaristic, controlling nomenclature matters because words do affect actions and attitudes. We should try harder I think.