If you research top corporate brands as much as I do, you’ll quickly realize how few top US corporations have a Facebook presence.

Why would top brands sit out of the largest marketing and communications petri dish ever? In a nutshell, I think it’s fear. Fear that an open forum will be bad for their business rather than good. Fear that they won’t be able to properly control their message. And fear over the sea change that has come as a result of social media.

Rule number one of communications (and of new media marketing for that matter) is that open dialogue and interaction with your company and brand is a GOOD thing. Consumer feedback – whether bad or good -  needs to be nurtured and grown; after all, it’s how you learn about the things you’re doing well as well as the things that could be improved.  I can name 100 case studies detailing how open communication via Facebook and other outlets have led to stronger branding and significant, long term spikes in sales.

So I say to the Fortune 100s sitting out the greatest paradigm shift in marketing and sales of the past century, don’t stay on the sidelines forever – it’s a great party and it won’t be over soon. Get your face in Facebook!