Quote:
Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65
Waaait...were they mad that you had 6k posts here?
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Fen,
We live in Shno's House and in forums. We understand web 2.0. We are not corporate mainstream. It is fashionable for a business to say they embrace social media, but they really don't. You can see it here on C5. There are a lot of businesses selling and promoting products and services on C5. How many spend time in Shno's House? How many really want to be part of the community and have become just that?
In many large corporations and family businesses perception can be more important than reality. There is good reason to carefully guard proprietary information with respect to competitors. There are better reasons to keep a lower profile than the people with larger titles. Egos and policies can become more important than reality in these business structures.
In the online world life is more complicated. As consumers we want to have a personal relationship with people at the companies we purchase products from. Occasionally we find a person in the employ of one of these companies that understands this. That person must walk a razors edge to become a valued member of the online community. That person must speak with authority on a wide range of subjects relating to company business. At the same time that person must make certain they don't commit the company to any action or activity. They also must carefully guard the company's information.
If they do these things well they risk becoming visible to other people in the company. Everyone at the company wants their fair share of the spotlight. If the light becomes too focused on one person, Machiavellian office politics can kick in. Putting aside any politics and ego, there are people charged with the responsibility of guarding proprietary company information. To those people a forum is a nightmare. A straight forward response to an online question may not be all that clear.
Question: Will the C7 Corvette have a direct injection twin turbo charged overhead cam V8 with 650 HP in the ZR1?
Reply: I can't speak to future product information.
Does that mean what was written or in the mind of the information police did the answer mean something else? God help the online employee if they didn't know that the new Corvette ZR1 has a direct injection twin turbo charged overhead cam V8 with 650 HP and any reply would put them in a bad position. If your mindset leans toward promoting the company, building relationships and the brand it is a good answer. If your perspective is to protect the company's secrets, the mere presence of an employee on a forum is a problem because of the opportunity for a 'leak' has been multiplied.
It is interesting that Mark Reuss has a Facebook page. It shows that he is well aware of how important social media is to GM while at the same time a challenge to manage. All companies say that social media is important to them. Too bad social media to the same people means only a new place to release marketing material, to use the platform only to get out a message while being in complete control of the content. That isn't social media. That is advertising.
If you have a Chevy tattoo and bleed GM blue you want to promote your company and products. You're a go getter and want to be a GM lifer. Do you go online or let it go?