Richard Bates
Director of Consumer Empowerment Programme
As we advance into the 21st century, the world is changing fast. Widespread access to social media and other ‘web 2.0’ technologies is transforming how we behave and what we can achieve as consumers. It’s also enabling us to speak out to our peers and speak back to the providers of goods and services. Business magazine, Forbes, noted in September that:
‘This social might is now moving toward your company. We have entered the age of empowered individuals, who use potent new technologies and harness social media to organize themselves.’
For any organisation representing the consumer interest, this presents an interesting quandary: in an age when consumers have a voice and are not afraid to use it, what’s the role of a body that claims to be the voice of consumers? I’ve recently set out some initial thoughts that respond to this question in a blog piece that can be found on Consumers International’s website.
