When millions of Totos attack

On BrandShift, Jennifer Rice recently offered an amusing, but apt, analogy for how the blogosphere is turning transparency into a basic requirement of doing business today instead of a desirable elective:

All this talk of transparency reminds me of the classic scene in The Wizard of Oz where Toto pulls back the curtain on the wizard. He's furiously working his controls and microphone to operate the big talking head: "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"

If you believe that transparency is a fad, or an option, or a warm and fuzzy buzzword, think again. What you believe doesn't matter. There are millions of Totos running around the blogosphere; they've got good noses for men behind curtains. And nothing pleases them more than to see another talking head fall.

... Social technologies like blogs and community forums are forcing us to completely rethink the traditional tenets of brand management.

Transparency will happen to your company whether you like it or not. One obvious question to ask yourself is, how embarrassed will you be when your curtain is pulled back?