| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
 General Motors Corp. CEO Fritz Henderson came to Twitter on Tuesday Inc. to talk up the automaker's restructuring progress. But the event unfortunately did as much to highlight the dangers and limitations of corporate America embracing social networking sites as it did to remake GM's image as a hip trendsetter and not the manufacturer of your father's Oldsmobile.Henderson to his credit has been reaching out to the public using a variety of methods since taking over the top spot at GM in late March. The executive has held biweekly press conferences (including a chat with the press proceeding his tweeting), and has gone to great lengths to appear more accessible than his predecessor Rick Wagoner. But Twitter proved a poor fit for this sort of chatting. Interested followers had to jump back and forth between Henderson's answers on @GMBlogs and individual questions, often forced to figure out which of sometimes many questions the executive had responded to. The Twitter session was designed to answer consumer questions, and interested parties did find out tidbits, including that GM would not retain stakes in either Saturn or Saab and is officially not worried about projecting first-year sales of its eagerly awaited Volt electric vehicle. But the most bizarre elements of the chat were Henderson's responses to a number of other Twitter users not participating in the chat (and using the #Fritz designation that GM had established) but commented on the company. Henderson noticed a Tweet from @EdFritz (no relation, but calls himself an Internet entrepreneur and proud conservative) saying, "I will NEVER buy a GM or Chrysler car after the way they screwed the dealers and bondholders. FORD 4 me," and responded by saying "give us a chance, but if you just will not, best wishes in the future." Fair enough. But things got a little more testy when @Bill_Landay used Twitter to proclaim "As proud owner of a 1989 Saab 900. glad to see Saab free of its bumbling GM overlords." Henderson seemingly testily replied: "we do plan to work with the new buyer to make them successful, not to bumble along" Perhaps the most bizarre exchange was with @J3V, who was on Twitter complaining (without any hash marks or indications he was interested in a chat with Henderson) about GM's treatment of a plant where the Dodge Viper is built. The poster quickly realized his error (Dodge is made by Chrysler, not GM), tweeting that he meant Chrysler "but they are the same d**che bags anyway." Henderson, as if speaking to his child, felt the need to reply "highly constructive my friend." The net result was not so much the perception of a hip CEO in touch with his customers, but rather a company scrambling to rebuild its faltering public image. A nice effort, but not a game changer. And the responses among Twitter faithful were, unsurprisingly, mixed. A noncustomer, @TOPolk, said that "even as a Toyota owner" he tips his hat to Henderson for fielding live tweets. But @RickBarrett was not so kind, wondering if tweeting was really the best use of the CEO's time. "Aren't you going through bankruptcy?" he asked. So Henderson gets a hat tip. But it seems unlikely he sold many cars today. For that, you still have to get consumers to surf over to GM.com. Or, as old fashion as it sounds, a dealership. - Lou Whiteman Lou Whiteman is a senior writer covering the automotive, transportation and industrial sectors. Criticize him on Twitter @louwhiteman
 Deal Video
    Community
 Elsewhere on The Deal.comDealwatch
The Deal MagazineCorporate Dealmaker
The Deal VideoCategories
Blog roll
Archives
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
©Copyright 2009, The Deal, LLC. All rights reserved. Please send all technical questions, comments or concerns to the Webmaster.
I give Fritz credit. He's trying to communicate and given the unpopularity of the govt. loans and the nature of social media where people can take cheap shots while hiding behind their computer screens I think he deserves a bit of respect for having the chutzpah to step into the ring.