Rohit Bhargava recently posted a presentation he gave about marketing in a Web 2.0 world that got me to thinking about transparency and authenticity.Let’s face it – transparency is one of the most used social media buzzwords (perhaps not too far behind conversation, blogosphere and, well, social media). It’s also a word that is both easily defined yet hard to grasp. I find this especially true when we talk about companies becoming more transparent in their communications, particularly when trying to balance the needs of the company with the requests of the online world.

Rohit’s presentation resonated with me because I agree – it’s not necessarily about transparency in communications, it’s about authenticity – in everything you we do.

If you accept that businesses are around to make money, you must also accept that there will, necessarily, be limitations on how open a company can/should be. That means that sometimes, this “transparency” isn’t always the right choice for companies – particularly when discussing future plans of the company.

However, I believe it is very possible for executives to be authentic while still maintaining a competitive edge and protecting proprietary information. In the end, it’s all about adding a lot more “human factor” and removing the corporate speak — which ultimately helps build trusting relationships with employees, shareholders, customers and partners, and even the media. All this is done by simply allowing a spokesperson to be honest and forthcoming (without disclosing company secrets).