Was RTÉ’s decision to appoint Ryan Tubridy as presenter of its flagship programme entirely surprising? Tubridy has proven a safe pair of hands in the ratings stakes during his tenure at Tubridy Tonight. This is, afterall, the same route Pat Kenny took almost 10 years ago albeit with a different objective.

Kennys primary task was quite unforgiving: to replace the irreplaceable. His critics have been harsh but the numbers don’t lie. If Kenny is to be judged on this criterion then the ship is steady, if a little bit rusty.

Tubridy’s objective, according to his news interview on the 11th May, is to “bring a 21st Century twist” to the oldest running TV chatshow of all time. However, he hastened to add that he was “not going to tinker with the format too much”.

Which is it going to be Ryan?

Providing the Late Late with a 21st Century makeover is no mean feat. It’s a gradual process. Bending barriers rather than breaking them (just ask Tommy Tiernan’s lynch mob).

With RTÉ currently nearly €70 million shy of advertising revenue targets, a lot is riding on this decision. Even if RTÉ do hit the right tone with the “new” Late Late Show, they’ve surely left a void in their Saturday night schedule. Given that viewing figures for Tubridy Tonight are only 10% below that of the Late Late show and that RTÉ are in the red, it will be interesting to see if Tubridy Tonight will be replaced at all, never mind who could fill Tubridy’s shoes.

Maybe 21st century twists are better suited to Saturday nights.

Who knows how this will all turn out?

We wouldn’t be caught dead watching it…

We’re now trusting the opinions of strangers more than those of our friends and family, a change driven fundamentally by the growth of social media such as blogs and social networks, and the increasing opportunity for people to leave opinions, ratings and comments on websites (if you’re reading this you’re proving my point!). This means that consumer opinions are no longer local but have been projected worldwide.

Today established services such as Amazon’s wish-lists and reader reviews, eBay’s voting on sellers and TripAdvisor’s travel recommendations are just the beginning. A new generation of web businesses are moving to the next level by building offers based entirely on consumer recommendations. The majority of these are currently based in the US but will inevitably move to this side of the Atlantic.

So what can brands do to navigate this new influence economy?

Invest in exceptional product / services – in a world driven by consumer opinion the main thing that matters is exceptional product or service. Bad service will lead to bad brand in the service economy.

Listen to the buzz – use the tools of social media to see what people are saying about your brand and the latest trends, track blogs, Twitter and social networks.

Be transparent – use the tools of social media to adopt a position of transparency. Give staff a voice through blogs, and create content to share in social media. Often companies and brands have some of the most interesting stories to tell – we think we do!

Make your brand active in social networks – be where consumers are part of the conversation.

Be more accessible – if consumers are adopting a greater number of places to communicate why shouldn’t you?.