The answer to the question I posed earlier today, as presented by Laurie Mayers of Haas MS&L Blogworks, the PR firm that developed GM’s blogs—is a resounding no. GM is not censoring comments to the GM Fastlane blog to preclude conversation about the recently announced layoffs and other drastic measures the company is taking. I had searched on a number of terms, but dumbly left out “jobs.” Laurie suggested such a search, which revealed comments like these:

Let me see if I have this correct: 1)GM has recorded a FOUR BILLION DOLLAR LOSS for year to date; 2)30,000 GM employees are about to lose their jobs, and 9 GM plants are being shuttered; 3) Toyota, Honda, Nissan, et.al. are eating GM’s lunch, dinner, and dessert; and 4) GM stock prices and credit ratings are getting a hammering unlike few have ever seen before.

Okay…

And the only thing GM can think of to do is offer ANOTHER Red Tag/Employee Discount/Rebate/Fire Sale to move the iron. BRILLIANT!

And…

Wow, sorry to hear about the huge changes you guys are making and the lost jobs. I understand and I have said many times that you will have to do what you are now doing to move forward. The product is good, people need to see that. Good luck!

This kind of candor is an excellent example of how blogs can help a company’s reputation and image in a crisis. Still, it seems the audience of Fastlane readers—even the highly critical ones—are a genteel and polite lot, since the L word wasn’t used once. With any luck, GM’s determination to stand by its blogging principles will serve the company well as it faces these dark times.

And special thanks to Laurie for keeping an eye on who was saying what and providing the information that clears up the issue in a timely and professional manner. Excellent PR!