Is Social Networking Right for Community Financial Institutions?

In today’s turbulent times and negative news, I’m wondering what the opinions are of BI.net folks on the concept of leveraging social networking (web 2.0) concepts to build relationships, seek feedback and promote the positive things that are going on in the industry.

Granted, the level of “sharing” that can take place needs to be tailored to the regulatory-controlled, compliance driven environment in which we operate, but the stories of community involvement, the good that is done for customers and trends that the “regular customer” may not fully understand, but have questions on, may be well suited for this type of delivery… or not.

So that I’m open and under full-disclosure, I’m teaching a course on social networking for community banks at the Graduate School of Banking at UW, Madison later this month, and seeking the opinions of others in and around the industry to get their take. I know what my take is on this issue (as a former 15-year community banker now “Internet guy”), but I’m very interested in the thoughts of this group as well.

So, if you feel one way or another, please let me know. If you have ideas or examples of banks/CUs that are doing this well and connecting with their customers via web 2.0 (blogging, Facebook pages, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc…)

Looking forward to your thoughts,
Eric