Rob Safuto picked up on my post yesterday about corporations visiting blogs but not commenting. He disagreed with some of my points, which I addressed in his comments, but I wanted to play-off his final statement:

I do think that smart companies will monitor and get involved in blogs where their brand or products are mentioned. But I don’t think that those companies have a responsibility to respond to a channel created and maintained by someone else.

I agree/disagree with this. The first part of the statement is just good common sense. With regard to the last sentence, sure companies don't have a responsibility, but they should try. Part of the social media revolution that is going on involves the breaking down of traditional communication channels.

If offered the choice of dealing with a company that limits/restricts communication options to only those that they control or dealing with a company that is willing to communicate with you on your terms which one would you choose?