Can "social media" save 6Music ?

This is an extract from a Radio Today interview with former Virgin Radio and BBC audio/new media guru James Cridland. The whole thing deserves a read, but this is an insight worth re-publishing.

As a keen user of social media, do you think the current Save 6Music campaigns will help the station’s survival ?

Probably the reverse. The '#savebbc6music' campaign won't save the station; it would look very poor on the management of the BBC if they reverse a presumably carefully thought-out decision based on a few thousand 140-character messages, in part from people who've never listened to 6music in their life. However, where it may have an effect is with the politicians: it would appear that Ed Vaizey, the Conservative culture spokesman has professed a conversion to the station, partially because of the Twitter and Facebook campaign. (Whether politicians should be taking notice of the rabid outpourings of the Twitterati is another question, and not for me to answer).

That being said, this social media campaign will damage the BBC's reputation within the UK, as thousands of people previously unaware of the radio station are told, repeatedly, why the BBC are apparently doing the wrong thing by closing it down. The BBC's continued existence is based, to a large degree, on public goodwill: continued campaigns against it, particularly from your 'friends' online, will damage the Corporation irrevocably.

The BBC will need to engage with the social media space, in a way I don't currently see it doing, to enable it to correctly make its point of view. I'm not sure this is in the Corporation's DNA: I was once rather soundly told off for replying, directly, to a listener who had a query about the BBC iPlayer: and told rather sternly that I should never engage in any conversation with listeners online. (I positively encourage it, by the way.)

More insights from James about radio and new media on his blog. And about beer here.