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Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Fastlane’s not the forum for GM’s bad news

In his “Strategic Public Relations” blog, Kevin Dugan wonders if GM will address its recent surprising forecast and related fallout in its blogs. I hope not.

In case you missed it, GM announced it would lose money in the next quarter and that the company would lay off workers. Says Dugan:

Anyone that has visited the company’s Smallblock Engine and Fastlane blogs knows they do not lend themselves to discussing ???job actions.??? But blogs are a dialogue and readers may steer the conversation to this news.

In his outstanding analysis of what distinguishes blogs from message boards, “CommonCraft” blogger Lee LeFever makes this observation (among others):

The locus of control matters most in defining who can post new topics, which drive the content of the resource. In weblogs, this role is centralized, with new topics being presented by a defined and focused person or small group. This centralization facilitates focus and direction on behalf of the webloggers.
In many message boards, all members usually have the ability to create new topics. This decentralization allows for more emergent and unpredictable directions that may reflect the group’s desires as a whole.

The Smallblock Engine blog is dedicated to the discussion of this engine among its fans. The Fastlane blog is focused on cars, a discussion between GM management and car buyers about the kinds of cars and features consumers want. If someone responds to a post—such as a recent post about a Wall Street Journal review of the Chevy Cobalt—by asking about job cuts, author and Vice Chairman Bob Lutz is perfectly within his rights to ignore the comment. The post was about the Cobalt, the Cavalier, disc brakes, and car-related subjects. Digressing can only dilute the effectiveness of the Fastlane blog as a channel for engaging customers in conversations about cars.

Just because the company is blogging does not oblige it blog about everything, including business issues that straddle the Sarbanes-Oxley line. Of course, if they wanted to start such a blog, it would be fascinating to see how they deal with questions they can’t answer for regulatory reasons and issues they can’t discuss. I suspect they’ll stick with traditional channels for addressing this one. And, as Dugan concludes: “Regardless of how this unfolds, I???m sure Smallblock and Fastlane will continue to be great examples of corporate blogs.”

 

03/21/05 | 2 Comments | Fastlane’s not the forum for GM’s bad news

Comments

  • 1.Shel - It is certainly their perogative to ignore it, particularly if the comment does not pertain to the focus of the blog. But what if the majority of the comments turn off-topic?

    If Ms. Stewart was blogging about the perfect quiche for Sunday brunch back when ImClone hit, or Ketchum was posting on best practices for employee communication when Armstrong Williams became news, what then?

    I agree that the blogs should NOT make an unprompted statement, but if the majority of the audience goes there, the silence becomes deafening. At the least, the corporate blogging policy should have steps in place to make the conventional channels are aware of the comments.

    Oh well, it's all hypothetical. This and $2 buys you a cup of Starbucks, but not a gallon of gas.

    kevin dugan | March 2005 | Cincinnati, OH

  • 2.A gallon of gas to power your GM vehicle?

    Clearly if the preponderance of comments focus on this issue, the company should not remain silent. However, I still believe the discussion can be moved to a more appropriate channel with notice in the Fastlane blog that they can engage company representatives in that other forum.

    The issue here isn't whether GM is dodging (no pun intended) the subject. It's whether the digression in this particular blog will dilute its value both to GM and the audience. If GM sets the precedent that Fastlane is open to discussion of whatever topic people want to discuss, it could eventually be a forum for discussion of marketing tactics, labor issues, dividend vs. reinvestment strategies, outsourcing, corporate governance and a host of other topics. Those participants who read the blog because of Lutz's insights on product will gradually depart, and the conversation about product for which the blog was intended will be lost, along with the benefits both sides were accruing from the conversation. Without that focus, the blog will turn into a funny-looking bulletin board where any topic under the sun is up for grabs.

    So it's not a question of whether the company should engage audiences on other issues or respond to questions. It's only a question of the appropriate channel for that to take place.

    Shel Holtz | March 2005 | Concord, CA

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