An executive of an organization looked me dead in the eye recently and said, “I am not comfortable with what people are saying about my product on the Internet. How do I stop them?”

The readers in tune with the world of social media probably just got a chuckle, but it’s no laughing matter. It isn’t a laughing matter because the vast majority of marketing and communications decision-makers would say the same thing and be dead serious. For those people, here’s your answer: You can’t.