In an interview (article in Swedish magazine Tendens, John C. Havens of Porter Novelli in New York said “as in all communication, what is said must be relevant and objective” (my translation).
Now, the above is not a quote but rather a line in the stand first. The article is about building brands online. And about honesty and ethics being important in order to be successful in social media. Now, I don’t know if the journalist has framed it in a certain way; but I think it’s bullshit. I’ve been saying to myself for a long time now, that today more than ever, brands need to have a point of view, humor, a personality and all that stuff that humans have. I mean, if they’re going to continue to get involved in the more and more social aspect of media (I don’t think using social media is having conversations on twitter and facebook, but equally much launching campaigns while thinking connectedness and social aspects which might not fall under his definition of building brands using social media, coming from a PR angle) - you better not be objective like some judge.
And 5 minutes after reading the article I stumbled upon this post by Paul Isakson where he mentions purpose and action.
You cannot be objective and have a purpose and action (actions taken and planned). There is never one side to any coin. What you do have to do, however, is be relevant, have an opinion and stand by that. You can try really hard to be fair. But screw trying to be objective all the time. Being objective is something very few have to strive for. None reach it. No human anyway. Far more interesting is a point of view. Or how about just cracking a joke?