“WEB 2.0 COMMUNICATION PROCESSES IN ITALIAN LARGE COMPANIES: INCLUSION OR ENCLOSURE?”

The new online applications known as Web 2.0 or Social Media enable the gradual empowerment of consumers and other business stakeholders and contribute to an unprecedented change in the dynamics of social interaction between firms and stakeholders. Social Media are today the most common applications on the Web and appear to be promising tools for building customer loyalty, strong consumer-relationships and creating value. To examine the state of the art of communication policies, the research analyzes whether firms aim to achieve truly inclusive communication processes with the community of customers and investors or whether conversely, the communication process omits including the wealth of knowledge emerging from consumer generated content and investor. In this context the paper investigates whether and to what extent 100 Italian Listed companies use the potential of contacting and procuring stakeholders by means of Web 2.0 tools. Our empirical research could well be considered a core contribution both in terms of practical implications for corporations, public relations management and investor relation not to mention in the academic field.