Let me first describe the issue at hand. Thomas Hawk has posted a story in which he describes events which transpired at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Hawk says that he was photographing from an atrium when the Director of Visitor Relations tersely told him to leave. When Hawk tried to reason with the man and offered to show him the pictures, provide proof on the Museum's website that the Atrium was an approved location for photography, and tell the Director of his previous discussions with the Museum's Marketing and Communications Department, the Director would not listen.
First of all let me say that I disapprove of the way Thomas has handled this incident and I think he should have been more thoughtful about some of his comments and word choice in the blog. Despite that, Thomas is doing something necessary in fighting for photographer's rights. Despite the fact that this man may not understand the difference between a telephoto lens and a wide-angle lens (such as the one Thomas was using) and that he failed to have proper knowledge of the Museum's own rules, Thomas never should have been treated like this even if he was wrong in taking picture in the area.
I'm not going to blog about my opinion on this anymore but would like to elaborate on why this incident is important in understanding the implications of social media and blogging on the web.

Why This is Important

Although Thomas is likely skewing the facts at least somewhat and probably does not fully understand why he was kicked out, it is the company's responsibility to protect it's image. Normally this can be done through slander lawsuits and the like but it is very obvious that these kinds of arguments are foolish at best to bring upon everyday customers.
Companies are going to need to find a way to work with the internet and reach out to the customers with complaints or concerns. In fact, I hope that more and more companies will begin to hire entire teams of people who scour the internet looking for unfavorable reviews, blog posts, tweets, etc. to engage their community.

There is nothing better to restore a customers faith and trust in a company than helping them in a time of need when they have had a bad experience

Slander Lawsuits & P2P File Sharing

One of my favorite topics is P2P File Sharing which I believe is a great technology that will only help the music industry to grow. The problem is that modern labels do not understand the benefits and are too caught up in the past to research into alternatives for the future.
I believe that in both cases it would be far cheaper for labels to allow file sharing while countering it with their own, simplified, dead simple means of sale and for companies to reach out to the customer in crisis. Music distribution would become dirt cheap and PR would become far cheaper and more controllable.