Friday, October 23, 2009
Excerpt: During General Motors' financial meltdown this year, politicians, corporate executives and journalists piled on to gripe about the auto-maker's business. Most of the chatter was expected, admits Christopher Preuss, GM's vice president of communications. What surprised company execs was the number of bloggers and social media hounds who chimed in to grouse about the car-maker and its vehicles.
One was David Meerman Scott, a blogger on WebInkNow.com, and the former vice president of marketing for media company Knight-Ridder. Scott’s scathing commentary about "faceless," "nameless" GM's marketing strategies fetched 20-plus comments from other GM bashers on his blog.
GM is one of many companies trying to manage a slew of online critics like Scott, particularly since the economic downturn has made so many bloggers--and their followers--distrustful and critical of big companies. The musings and grumbles of these "badvocates," as they are called, can now be transmitted around the globe. These powerful critics represent 20% of the world's adult population online and they reach an estimated 14 people with their opinions, according to New York public relations firm Weber Shandwick.
Source:
Forbes