Evolving Blogs
By Christopher Barger
Director, GM Global Communications Technology
With shutdown behind us and summer vacations still happening, we’ve been a little light on content lately, since not many people have been around to write a post. So I thought this might be a good opportunity to discuss the editorial direction for the GM blogs, and to give you a better sense of what to expect and which of our blogs to expect it on.
When FastLane started in early 2005, the concept was a natural fit: putting our car guy (Bob) with other car people to talk about cars. I still think it’s a great idea. But as this blog has evolved, there have been a number of other subjects that time and circumstances have also made important: fuel efficiency, alternative propulsion issues, corporate social involvement, the state of the American automotive industry, and any number of others.
It’s fantastic to have a well-known blog that people come to. But the danger in using FastLane as the catch-all for all of our conversations is that we end up being too broad and risk alienating our readers — or worse yet, that people perceive that we’re using the blog as a marketing tool rather than as a place we try to share thoughts and engage in dialogue about our vehicles.
Meanwhile, we have the FYI blog, which is important but has sometimes been underutilized or under-contributed to. And as the name suggests, we originally envisioned it as the place to discuss issues and provide our perspectives. I’d like to get back to this model for both of our blogs — return FastLane to being our blog about vehicles, and have FYI serve as our more “corporate” blog where we discuss other issues.
Sometimes, there’ll be crossover; for example, I can see Volt information or developments being very important on both blogs — the talk about the car itself would be on FastLane, while discussions of the ramifications or significance of the vehicle would be on FYI. Discussions of alternate propulsion belong on FYI; talk about the 2009 Camaro or of our strategies and plans for our brands would go on FastLane. Auto enthusiasts will still find most of the stuff they’re interested in on FastLane; green-minded readers or those wanting to keep up on the business of making cars will
find most of their interests covered on FYI.
It’s just a way to try and keep things as pure as possible for you, our audience — and for us to try and remember that broader audiences have evolved for our blogs as we have grown them.
Let me know what you think… we are trying to be more responsive to comments and feedback, so I’ll be watching what people are saying. Thanks!
- Posted in Cars & Trucks
Dan
I still don’t understand why you need two blogs. What’s wrong with using one blog for everything you’ve mentioned above?
Ryan
While I think we all appreciate the candor of the post on GM’s blogging efforts, its a shame that there’s no direction purposed. GM has proven, over the past 2 years especially, that they are in the game for Internet customers and on the edge of communications over the web. Unfortunately, blogging has been the most underutilized medium GM has.
You are concerned with the material you are putting out there for readers will be too broad on here, I would take the exact opposite stance. I think if there was a group of writers, with well defined categories, you could really show some momentum with this effort. Yet, instead, we see posts very rarely and sporadically. I think this bores your readers more than having too much content would overwhelm them.
Remember, how many blog readers are monitoring 10’s if not 100’s of blogs every day via RSS or other syndication?
Make it happen! Let’s get in the blogging game and be serious about it, like the rest of the e-advertising strategy for the company.
As a GM dealer that has our own Blog (CorvetteBlog.com) (which you refuse to acknowledge our request to link to I might add), I think you are missing out. Make this the turning point.
John
It’s a GM Blog, so OF COURSE the Fastlane blog is in some sense a marketing tool for GM.
That said, GM has been extremely good at allowing a free flow of debate in the posts, which is very much to its credit. (Heck, you guys have posted most of my comments, most of which have not been overly flattering.)
Speaking for myself, I like seeing a variety of topics on the Fastlane blog, and haven’t seen much of use on the FYI page, so I’d recommend just having more content on a variety of topics on the Fastlane blog.
It’s fine to put the occasional marketing or puff piece on here, just as long as its based in reality, as you’re going to get called on it if you’re talking obvious nonsense.
As long as you’re providing honest information or commentary on this blog, you’re not going to alienate readers. Most hot rodders like better gas mileage / alternative fuels, and most environmentally conscious types like sporty acceleration and good handling cars, so put all your content on here.
If we don’t like it, we’ll skip the post, if it’s BS, we’ll call you on it, but if it’s honest and informative, we’ll be grateful for it.
Keep up the great work!
Benjamin
Sounds like a good idea. I for one did get tired of seeing the blogs filled up with ‘filler’ material - like every other FYI post being a ‘photo of the day’. And Fastlane got kind of turned into the GM advertising page - some cars just got TOO much attention. I mean, I like reading about concept cars like the Volt, but really, what about other concepts like the Buick Velite, etc.???
And it seems that Bob still tries to avoid the more serious topics that we’re interested in. I’ll give him credit though - he did address diesel engines and some of the ‘Chinese Buick’ issues in a video post, but that’s the kind of stuff we need to see more of. Such as, how is GM going to compete with other brands (read: Toyota) and their products and why certain markets get things that others don’t (i.e. diesels in Europe, Buicks in China, etc.)
But overall, it’s still a decent blog even though it has gotten sidetracked…
Dan Greenfield
The beauty of blogs is the ability to modify and expand the number of channels easily and cost effectively. We at EarthLink refined our blog to reflect the changing needs of our customers. Initially focused on protection with multiple writers, the blog now has a blogmaster who covers a wide array of topics related to getting the most out of the Internet.
I think the decision to change our focus definitely benefited our customers.
On a separate note, I hope transition to GM is going well.
eric
so, you can have a blog and it won’t reflect any marketing tools?
wierd. i guess you can change the color from green to white, take down that camaro concept, forget even stamping GM on this blog and just say anything you want since it won’t be marketing to anyone.
Nate
I would like to place a comment regarding the blog pages. I think you need a section specifically for customer/fan feedback, discussion and even questionaires/polls. I have noticed that the page seems to only follow what GM wants to talk about. GM “people” for lack of better words start the topics/threads and then we are allowed to comment on them. It would be nice to allow us to start some topics and get some GM feedback on them. It would also be nice if there was a questions page where we could pose questions for GM and other blog users. This would let us (the readers/fans) pick the questions and see how everyone else feels about the issues. This would also save everyone from having to read pages and pages of opinion to answer a few questions.
I guess what I’m thinking about is a forum for discussion of ideas, and a way we can submit feedback to GM that may be out of place otherwise.
For instance I wouldn’t mind starting a forum for discussion of GM diesel vehicles and economy performance vehicles. Or one on a discussion to bring some younger performance luxuary cars to Buick. Or a discussion of premium warranty options or even premium cars (as in extreme limitied production runs) as a way to show off GM as not being just a mass producer… but a producers of niche cars.
These are things that I don’t think GM would necissarily want as open topics since the market research seems to dictate where things go. But I think it would be nice and fun to be able to let some ideas flow freely around the pages in a seperate section built as a reader/customer’s blog rather then a GM’s blog. It would serve as a place for GM to listen rather then speak.
Allowing for questions could allow the readers to get feedback on how other GM readers/enthusiasts feel about certain topics without having to read tons of posts. Basically a way to submit general questions such as “Do GM’s fuel efficient cars meet both your fuel efficiency and performance demmands? If not why?” or “Do you really care about performance when discussing true economy cars?”
Reader posed questions afford an opportunity that I rarely see.
I see it as a win win for GM. Get a bit of marketing research, some consumer feedback and consolodate it into an easier more efficient method for feedback. And give readers a place to discuss more things.
Of course there would still be the GM posted blogs, and reader feedback but also a place where the readers can pick topics that matter to them and allow other people to add, comment or debate, in such a way that GM could see more then just what is suggested by their own blogs.
Thanks
edvard
First of all, thanks for having a blog like this where we as your consumers can have some degree of input pertaining to the vehicles you make. There are scarcely few large, older, multi-faceted corporations that have open input options.
I would look to creating a blog that is even more open than the current version. I think it is safe to say that being open and utilizing mass collaboration is the only way modern industry can hope to achieve success. People not only want to contribute towards new ideas, but they expect to have the ability to do so as well. Any company that ultimately relies entirely on it’s inner resources will continually miss their marks.
Take the last topic for example- Buick. We as GM and car enthusiasts want to see Buick succeed. But I think any of your upper-ups would clearly see that the subject of styling for this marque is a major concern. Opinions like this are invaluable to a corporation whereas with inner development, sometimes the marketing of a new product is “guessed”.
GM is a complex company with a long legacy of developing products with sometimes staggering differences in management style from brand to brand. In order to overcome some of the complications of such, GM will need to continue to depend on consumers to communicate what they want in a vehicle.
Keep the blog simple. Invite comments. Perhaps ad new features where engineers can share their input. Perhaps an online styling studio where aspiring designers can submit new ideas would eventually lead to a groundbreaking design never before seen. The cost to you would be insignificant but the rewards would be immense. Become a company that fuels itself on new ideas and from any number of sources.
Keep up the great work.
Christopher Popa
Mr. Barger:
Why does GM need two different blogs? Why not just put things on one, which would make it simpler for readers and would keep things fresher (with more topics)?
Also, how about an opportunity for readers to submit specific questions, which could be answered (as much as possible) by you or Mr. Lutz or whomever?
P.S. - More stories about Buick and its future, positioning, etc.!
Thank you,
- Christopher Popa
Gary Dikkers
Why? Is it just because you want that? Or do you have a good reason?
As I’ve seen this evolve, FastLane is where we get to discuss serious issues, while FYI is for the puff stuff — images of ‘57 Chevys, a Volt driving backwards on the streets of Washington DC, etc.
OK, a Suggestion
What you could do is have a place where we can ask specific questions to Mr Lutz, Steve Shannon, and the other brand managers instead of waiting for them to post a blog and then discussing whatever they’ve felt like posting.
It would also be nice if your executives were more responsive in answering questions. Of course they are busy, but they get paid big bucks, and a critical part of their jobs is knowing what the customer thinks.
Whether they like it or not, GM is in the customer satisfaction business, and this blog gives them a direct line to understanding customer satisfaction.
V/R
Gary Dikkers
Alex
People come to this blog because they like to talk/read about GM cars and not necessarily GM corporate and personalities. However, if there is a corporate message that relates to car products, then it should still appear in this blog. Bob Lutz’ video broadcast on the efficiency of diesel engines was very insightful. I would have missed it had it only appeared in the fyi blog (that I don’t visit). Rather than fragmenting good material over multiple blogs, I suggest focusing on keeping this blog vibrant and interesting.
Schmeltz
Christopher Barger:
Thanks for your thoughts on the blog structure. I respectively disagree with wanting to divide up the blogs though. I think there is beauty in simplicity, and splitting up the subject matter over a few different blogs is confusing–at least to me. I would much rather just come right here for every and all GM blog topics. One location keeps it simple. A while back Tesla had done something similar to what you are suggesting in that they divided their blogs into 4 different subject areas. I don’t care for their new format very much. It is not impossible to navigate, but it adds some unnecessary steps in my opinion. If it were up to me, I would have the Fastlane Blog absorb the FYI blog. Just my thoughts on the matter.
pdbw
What about the blog about the new Cadillac CTS? Will there be something similar chronicling the development/launch of the Camaro? It might be a good way of maintaining interest and enthusiasm until it hits the streets.
altfuels
Hello–
Thanks for the thought and effort that you’ve put into this refocusing. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking that “auto enthusiasts” and “green-minded readers” are separate groups; many of us fall into both categories (I was very enthusiastic about the EV1, for example!). A few years ago, GM used the advertising slogan “it’s not just your car, it’s your freedom.” Those of us who are both auto enthusiasts and green-minded want to ensure that we are able to keep the freedom embodied in our cars even in the face of “peaking” oil production and increasing concern about leaving a livable planet to the next generation. I ride the bus when it suits my needs, but I have no interest at all in being forced to switch to mass transit full-time because I can’t afford gasoline, say. With many different sources of electrical power, up to and including solar panels on my roof, and with the efficiency of even a high-performance electric vehicle, I’ll always be able to afford to drive on electricity, if only automakers will build enough vehicles to get some economies of scale on the manufacturing! (EV1s were as rare as Lamborghinis in the two model-years (1997 and 1999) that they were made.)
HotCarNut
I like the idea of returning Fastlane to be more car focused. However, I do have an additional suggestion: put the bloggers on a schedule. Yes, I know, getting a top executive like Bob Lutz to commit to anything on a regular basis is harder than nailing jello to the wall. Yes, I realize that not everyone will always have something to post. That being said, a regular schedule for the people who post often would really help the blog stay relevant and keep content up. For Example, Bob commits to posting twice a month, and each brand leader commits to posting once a month. Since GM has 8 brands, that would be roughly 2 posts per week. Couple that with specialized updates on the Camaro and Volt, and you’ve got a pretty fair amount of activity on the blog. The problem is that there hasn’t been any semblance of a schedule and it’s hard to get a feeling for posting activity that we can discuss.
Just a thought.
David Smith
Nice article!
Nate
I am glad to see I am not the only one who thinks that we (GM customers) need a way to put in more direct feedback.
I am also interested to hear about the idea of scheduled blogs by the GM management team. Afterall it is them that we the customers need to maintain open communication with. If they (GM execs), don’t have anything to blog about there are plenty of us to give direction and pick topics for blogs.
Again I think a forum style blog page with threads and polls and similar that we can start and create would be of great use. I have seen this type of thing work on a variety of topics. (mainly Mythbusters from the discovery channel, who rely on fans to generate the subject matter for their shows). I think a bit of care in moderating and posting is in order. As it is though the GM blog pages seem to be managed quite well in terms of quantity of feedback. I think adding more channels for each of the brands could be a great idea. I’d love to hear more on upcoming Caddy, Buick, and Pontiac ideas. In fact I’d even like to put some feedback in, as by the time these new cars hit market I will be in the market for one of them. Why not get what I want right out of the box?
I also think GM has a very very unique opportunity to get direct feedback on ideas. If they use this blog as a tool in the right direction they could probably hit their mark better. Sure not every customer is going to blog, that would be a mess. But if GM were to pick a few major vehicle catagories and allow us to submit our recomendations and feed back and maybe even get to have some feedback with the various members of design teams, the result could be fairly impressive.
I’d be willing to bet (and I’d love to see) the GM management staff put out a contest for its bloggers for two or three car models in the economy performance category. I bet that if asked the readers could exactly describe what they like and dislike and GM execs could directly implement this into a concept that people would buy.
For example…. Buick seems to be the hot topic on here lately. Personally I think Buick could produce a Saturn Aura sized diesel electric hybrid that could satisfy people wanting reasonable performance AND performance. This would be a really neat idea to discuss on the forum. Eco cars and performance are where the future of the market is at, what better way to get there then to let your customers help steer the way.
Nate
John
The fix is real simple
I began visiting this and other blogs you have when they first began.
The problem is more times then not whoever decides what gets posted from us does not post my content.
Seems these blogs are not much for the common guy like me who has bought GM cars since 1970, heck my first car as a kid was 1951 chevy and I have owned 13 Corvettes but it seems us wrencher types are not seen as the type of real American content you want to publish or respond to.
Reviewing content that might not fit your model and rejecting it is not what I’d call the American way.
Mel
I too think 2+ blogs is not necessary. Just make it one home page. And update it more. GM’s “Fastlane Blog,” should be called the “GM Slowlane Blog,” because it’s contributed to so slowly. 7-14 days between topics? Get real.
And now about Lutz. He doesn’t seem to truly value and consider comments from auto buffs. He just wants an ego-puff here. To reply to Lutz’s Traverse City speech (pasted below): Yes, a large amount of the U.S. public, and most of the auto/business pundits, do think the Big-3 execs are: “Dumb, unprepared, anachronistic, an endangered species, have the same level of stupid at the same time, buffoons, a bunch of greedy, short-sighted U.S. car company executives.”
So there. Enjoy that well-deserved reputation.
Lutz’s speech excerpt:
GM’s Lutz Blasts Auto “Experts” (EDMUNDS.COM, August 09, 2007 Michelle Krebs) General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz blasted so-called automotive experts who refer to Big Three auto executives as “Detroit Dinosaurs” during his speech delivered to the Center for Automotive Research’s annual management conference Thursday. “We have been routinely dismissed as dumb, unprepared, anachronistic, an endangered species … “Are we to believe that three independent companies with three completely diverse global management teams, grounded by three different and independent boards all at once nearly imploded because they were all just the same level of stupid at the same time? Are we to believe there aren’t any macroeconomic factors contributing to this situation? Are we to believe there are not other outside factors driving the domestic industry in a certain direction? Factors that may not necessarily affect the import manufacturers in the same way? “If you listen to these ‘experts,’ you’d have to conclude that no, this really is just bufoonery on the part of a bunch of greedy, short-sighted U.S. car company executives.”
Bill Connell
As I just read through the 16 comments, one additional thing struck me. Effective blogs involve the writers with those leaving the comments. I am the 17th to comment, yet there has been no response from Fastlane. There is nothing from you, and the sense we get is that you may not be listening at all.
When folks leave comments at our CorvetteBlog.com, we respond on a daily basis to any questions left by those commenting. Blogs can be effective two-way communication between those who are passionate about their subject!
Christopher Barger
Thank you for your feedback, everyone. I have to admit, it’s not entirely what I expected. I’m pleasantly surprised to learn that we haven’t necessarily been turning people off with too broad a subject range.
I want to wait a couple more days to see a few more comments (and no, I am not just holding out to get more comments that reflect my point of view! I am just waiting to take in a bigger “sample size” if you want to call it that) — and quite frankly, with the Woodward Dream Cruise this week here in Detroit, my team and I are kinda swamped — before reacting or responding more completely. No sense in rushing a reply out without taking the time to ponder everyone’s thoughts and all.
So please don’t take my lack of comment in the next couple of days as crickets chirping… I am reading what you all have to say, and I’m taking it seriously. I just want to wait until the Cruise is over and there’s time to give a more thoughtful reply.
Thanks for understanding and I’ll see you at the Dream Cruise!
Christopher Barger
Bill - as a blogger yourself, you must understand the process of moderating comments, and how that means that response comments don’t always get posted as soon as they’re written.
We moderate our blogs so that personal attacks, profanity/vulgarity, and off-topic comments don’t invade the conversations. We then publish in bulk several times a day.
So while you’re reading 16 comments and accusing me of not responding, the fact is that I had read them all and had replied back already. We were just waiting on the moderation/publishing process.
As a fellow blogger, I thought you’d understand that.
Noel Park
I am lucky if I can get through this blog every day. If there are two to monitor, I will just miss something.
As someone said above, if there are only posts about once a week at present, what’s the problem with too much content? The one local political blog I follow, totally done by non-paid local activists, often has as many posts in a day as I see here in a week.
Someone else commented that hot-rodders are interested in fuel economy and so forth. Right! We own 2 Corvette vintage race cars, a C3500 to tow them, and a ‘95 Impala SS.
On the other hand, my daily driver is an S-10 4 cyl., 5 speed, with every trick we can think of done to it to improve the fuel mileage.
Our family next car will be a Volt, or equivalent. Even we can get religion and besides, the elegant technology which improves fuel efficiency is not that far removed from racing and hot-rodding. It’s the same mindset in the end.
Setting gas mileage records can be just as exciting as setting speed records, especially in today’s geopolitical context.
edvard
One more comment to add to something I mentioned earlier pertaining to a more open model for GM, of which blogs are only a small part.
Without a doubt, GM’s best interest is with selling new cars and getting people interested in buying them. While blogs like this one sort of present ideas and news in a seemingly open way, while the delivery is itself open, the products being presented are for the most part pre-determined and finalized by GM.
Not that this is out of step with conventional business, and especially from a manufacturing perspective, but perhaps more could be done to further develop the idea of open discussion pertaining to actual product development.
What I’m getting at is that GM should be looking into sharing brand new ideas with consumers while the ink is still fresh. Perhaps the Volt is the closest to meeting that idea, but I would go even one step further. Start relying on the expertise of a world full of innovative thinkers to more or less help develop a product for you. You might be surprised at how eager people are to share their thoughts and ideas.
For example, if you were to present a new powertrain to one of your new trucks, by detailing the technical aspects of the engine, you might gain insite from other specialists, college students, and even the occasional back yard mechanic on how to further increase it’s fuel efficiency. Perhaps offer “prizes” or incentives to those who can develop a solution to problems.
I would think that a good place to start would be with vehicle styling. You did do this to a small degree with the Triplets. Perhaps your company gained some understanding of what young 20somethings in urban areas like: small and highly stylized compacts. Those who live in rural areas will likely prefer something else. In either case, by starting with a clean slate and getting your consumers in on the action everyone wins: Consumers get cars they like, GM makes money from popular cars, and the environment might benefit from a multi-faceted approach to engineering.
I for one see a blog as one tool out of many that GM and other companies need to consider. The days where teams of company specialists developed every nut and bolt are over.
Become the open source car company.
Sheth
All I can say is that the plan sounds good and I would like to see more posts and more talk of the new models GM is launching. I do understand why you cant respond to a lot of the stuff posted by your readers. You probably cannot respond without resorting to profanity because I know I am often perplexed and confused by some of the harsh critics here. People seem to expect this blog (and GM vehicles) to conform to their exact tastes and that isnt realistc. There is a difference between those offering constructive criticism and those who are just hear to beat up on Lutz repeatedly.
I think you ought to limit each reader’s postings per topic since you have quite a few critics who like to ramble on and beat issues to death.
ghent
it’s ok to have two blogs, but let me get down to business. Detroit executives may be not be able to eliminate the competitive disadvantage just with changes to their union contracts. Labor costs account for $1,200 to $1,500, or less than half of the difference, said Laurie Harbour-Felax, managing director of the consulting firm Stout Risius Ross and the author of the study.
“Labor cost is a significant portion of the gap, but other factors have a greater ability to affect profitability,” she said.
The biggest problem, she says, is that U.S. automakers still produce too many versions of mirrors, door handles, gear shifters and other components.
“They’re not communizing platforms around the globe and individual components around the globe,” she said. By contrast, the Japanese use more common parts across their vehicle ranges.
By designing fewer versions of each component, U.S. automakers would improve their own performance while helping their suppliers by allowing them to generate greater economies of scale.
So, why can’t every car made by GM has the same gear shifter, so long as it doesn’t affect the exterior of the car? Toyota is having a huge competitive advantage by having only 2 brands, lexus and toyota. think about it, GM!
Blair
Have always enjoyed this blog, however never found much of interest in FYI blog.Also many of your readers do not have broad band available so please limit video or provide a scripted summary. Thank You
Noel Park
Sheth, 8/16, 1:12 PM:
Right, you could just screen out anyone judged to be an “arrogant blogger” altogether and get rid of the irritation.
Someone once told me, “Remember what they did to prophets.”
Aside from the aversion of organizations of all types to irritating truth tellers, GM would be squandering a priceless source of information and market insight if they took up your suggestion.
I assume that the dreaded Gary Dikkers would be a prime suspect. Look at his extremely informative comment under “E-Flex Update”, 8/16, 10:31 PM. Now GM may be up on all such stuff, but I try to keep up as best I can, and it sure was news to me. If you lost that level of input, you would lose something very valuable.
The kind of openness and input seeking which this blog represents is the way of the future, but the organization must develop the strength to deal with the slings and arrows of the great unwashed. In this case, a large community of frustrated GM customers who truly fear for the future of the corporation.
Those who develop this strength will survive and prosper. Those who do not will go the way of Studebaker, American Motors, and Chrysler (wait for it). to name but a few.
altfuels
Noel Park –
I suspect that you and I are on Sheth’s @#&% list too… Over on FYI, Gary Dikkers and I are no doubt irritating a lot of readers by taking literally the title of a post, “The Ethanol Debate”! But as you have noted on a number of occasions, those of us who want GM to succeed in re-entering the environmental vehicle market (after crushing the EV1 and abandoning natural-gas vehicles) would be remiss if we did not do our best to keep GM honest, and make sure that they know that the questions that we (and plenty of others) ask are not going to go away. As I have on several occasions, I salute GM for creating this open forum; I know of no other major company where folks like Gary, Noel and I have any chance of catching the ear of the “big fish”!
p.s. Are you related to the late Bill Park of Manhattan Beach, CA? If so, you and I have crossed paths on the letters page of the Daily Breeze; I’m Mark Looper.
John (August 15, 10:49 p.m.) –
I have a hard time believing that GM is censoring your posts on class-warfare grounds, given that they have not censored mine on grounds of “biting the hand”! In fact, the blog staffers have gone out of their way to help me get my posts past the spam filters before I learned simply not to include Web addresses. Use the search box at top right to look for my handle, “altfuels,” to see some of the often highly critical content that they have posted from me; or search for “korthof” (one “f”) to read posts from a guy who’s so “angry left” that even some electric-vehicle advocates think he’s over the line!
Christopher Barger –
You may have noticed that (to Sheth’s irritation) some of these discussions go on long past the date of the original blog post. I have gone back on occasion months after a post’s date and found some ignorant comment that demands a reply, so I’ve replied to it. (You might also take this as evidence that I am too attached to “having the last word”…) Some blogs have an RSS feed not only to announce the main posts themselves, but also to alert subscribers to new comments; I’ve even seen “granular” RSS feeds that announce new comments on an individual blog posting, rather than just announcing all new comments! Any chance of your creating something like that, perhaps an “old news” RSS that announces new comments on posts older than the most current one? Your blog-server software probably supports it somewhere in the configs…
Alex
One of the good things about this blog is that it is moderated and reviewed by a blog master. I don’t enjoy visiting blogs that become a forum for a couple of fanatics to throw insult at each other, or write long English essays. Actually, I would put a limit on the length of postings so people can be concise and right to the point.
HotCarNut
In addition to a regular schedule, I too support more responses from the blog originators. I understand that this is not their primary job, but it really only takes about 30 minutes of their time to respond to a couple of the more thoughtful posts. I’m sure that your guys and gals in marketing are always looking for ways to connect to customers. Here you have a built-in audience looking for feedback and to be active participants in the American automotive industry. Most of the people who post to blogs like this are passionate about cars in one way or another. Some are passionate about performance (see my screen name). Some are passionate about fuel economy (see the environmentalists in the blog). Some are passionate about affordability, luxury, styling, etc. However, the two things that all of these people have in common are that they are passionate about cars and they are potential customers posting on this blog. Hopefully the GM executives (whether it’s Lutz, a line exec, or an engineer) can keep this in mind because I get the feeling that it’s overlooked.
Keep of the good work Chris and I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on how to make the blog better.
Benjamin
I think the ‘forum’ idea is quite popular. Let us suggest ideas and hear GM exec’s thoughts on them instead of just having us reply to whatever GM posts on here.
An example is Dell’s IdeaStorm blog/forum/board. They have their customers post ideas and then you hear feedback from Dell - their opinion on the matter and what steps they are taking to achieve that idea or why they are rejecting it or etc. It has been very successful for them and there have been a lot of changes in the way they do business because of their IdeaStorm blog.
SteveG
I’d like to see more interaction, such as while Gm fans are complaining about the rear end of the new Malibu, I’d like to see some reaction.
For instance, I think the rear end would look much better without any lights on the trunk. I believe most have commented on that.
Why no rear armrest?
How is a front license plate going to fit in since there doesnt seem to a logical place for it.
Why did you put an all light grey interior on the hybrid when it obviously looks awful and you have so many other cool color combos you could have used?
Why is the parking brake STILL on the floor?
Noel Park
altfuels/Mark:
Thanks for the words of encouragement.
I did not know Bill Park, but I have had a few letters published in the Breeze over the years. The last was on August 14, commenting on the diesel emissions out of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. I am even less popular with port managements than I am with GM, if that’s possible!
Every good wish, and keep on keeping them honest.
I really do devoutly hope that GM will survive and prosper. However, denial has not worked so far, nor will it work in the future. I never saw it as my role in life, but I guess somebody has to be the @#$%^&*, and hold the mirror up to the face of denial.
Matt Kelly
Hi Chris-of course we all love the Fastlane blog and GM is to be commended for it–it consistently ranks among the best corporate blogs by independent analysts. If there were one comment I’d like to echo, it’s that there is a LACK of regularly scheduled content, which is surprising giving the depth of content GM has available at its disposal. There could be a posting here everyday, heck several per day…get design, corporate, events, CLIC and regions all on a schedule of content submission. Then use FYI for user submitted content, like the stuff that NextGear independently does about GM, or other users. My 2 cents…
Noel Park
Matt Kelly:
Amen!
Frank
Chris,
Although there is some room for improvement, I must say that you and your team have done a great job. I have come to enjoy this blog mainly because of the fellow bloggers, and there extremely varied opinions. Although I don’t always agree with some individuals, it is fun to debate topics without anyone resorting to profanity or name calling. That being said, one thing I would like to see in the future, is you guys asking what we think. “A Little Well-Deserved Recognition” is a great topic, but I would really like to get more in depth. Show us some potential colors and ask us which ones we like..what do you like/hate about current deigns/engines..if GM could build any concept, which one any why…ect. A “no holds bard” look into our opinions could be invaluable.
Good Luck!
Frank
Frank
P.S. Any word on the G8 or new Monte?
JohnP
I would agree fully with Matt Kelly regarding the irregularity of posting by GM staffers. We know this started simply as a means of communbication primarily and in teh beginning almost exclusively by Bob lutz. As his job changed and his time consumed others were assigned, or stepped in by request. But tere has always been an inconsistency as to timing of new items. There have been episodes of more than a week between blogs (date of this blog to today, for good example) and other times when 3 or more blogs appear in the same week. I know that breaking news is important to be timely, but treat that as extras and give us a specific day each week when we can expect something.
James
Chris
I found the FYI blog by googling FYI. I had never heard of it before. I would suggest having a couple of buttons on top of the Fast Lane blog for different automotive3 issues. Current Product, show cars and future products, alternative means of propulsion, environment, political and economic issues.
Many of us bloggers are friends of the Domestic auto industry. The big 3. I believe GM could use this site to help mobilize public support when important issues relating to the auto industry are before congress. For example I called my congressman as well as my senators to express disapproval over proposed increased CAFE regulations. I did this because I like big powerful cars, because I think consumers and the marketplace should determine what type of vehicles consumers buy, because I want a strong auto industry and that means high profit vehicles and because I think the original CAFE regulations of 1975 started the downward spiral of the U.S. auto industry. I think there is a segment of politicians on the left who really hate cars and would like to force everyone into an electric Yugo.
Christopher Barger
Oy, what a couple of days! Before I even read any of the other comments, I wanted to apologize for taking so long to get back to this post… we were out of the office for the second half of last week working the Dream Cruise, and once you’re out of the office for a few days there’s always catch-up. So that’s my (lame) explanation for where I’ve been.
I am going to go back in now and read comments and try to put a thoughtful response together after seeing what you all had to say… but before I even do I wanted to explain where I’ve been and why I didn’t get back to you in a more timely fashion. I’ll be back with responses in a little while!
Noel Park
Well, since there is basically nothing going on on the FYI blog anyway, except for some lovely pictures of GM’s past glory, the highly irritating comments of Ms. Donna McLallen, and the valiant efforts of Gary Dikkers and altfuels to hold the mirror of reality up to same, maybe you should just go ahead and combine the two.
Christopher Barger
Okay… finally. I have finally had the chance to go through everyone’s responses and think about them. First of all, my thanks to each of you for the thought you put into your responses. A couple were predictable, but for the most part I really enjoyed the suggestions — and the criticisms, actually. No one ever gets better without hearing criticism, right? And thank you for your patience as I’ve struggled to catch up post-Dream Cruise. I didn’t mean to be this late in responding!
Rather than address everyone in one response, I’ll try to spread these out over a couple of comments…
DAN - Why two? There IS a place for FYI, IMHO. Whether I’ve misfired on the whole “too broad” thing or not, there is an active Flickr community that contributes to FYI, and there are still some posts (for example, the one from one of our employees on Earth Day talking about having spent the day removing mustard garlic from a marsh hear her home) that I think do some good in letting readers see the people of GM, not just the icon of GM. I’d hate to lose that.
Now as I said, we originally started FYI with it in mind as our place to discuss issues that were less about specific vehicles and more about other things (alternate propulsion, energy diversity, CAFE standards, all that stuff). Maybe our blogs have evolved differently than we originally expected and we can leave things as they’ve turned out. But that was the original idea.
RYAN - Not enough content. All I can say is, I recognize it. We do try to solicit more. It’s not easy. No one at GM doesn’t want to post, but the subject matter experts all have their “day jobs” to do… and while engaging with consumer audiences is absolutely part of all of our jobs, it’s also a challenge to find time sometimes. (Witness my taking a week to get back to this post alone!)
I suppose we could take the route of ghost-writing posts for people and getting more frequent content up here, but to me that dilutes the whole point. I’d rather have our folks putting their own stuff up less often than me putting it up for them more often.
Nonetheless, your point’s a valid one. We’ll try to do better!
JOHN - good point about our audiences being able to distill and pay attention to what they want. We sometimes get so caught up in trying to make things easy or better that we lose sight of that point from time to time. Thanks for the kind words.
BENJAMIN - We’re not “trying to avoid” anything… in fact, we are trying the video posts as direct responses to some of the comments we get here. (More coming very soon; we just shot the next round at the Dream Cruise and should be posting shortly.) But - I agree, better responsiveness from us would be a good thing, and we’re trying to upgrade.
DAN - Yes, the transition to GM is going very well, I am very happy here, thanks! The blogmaster idea works in many cases; for us, though, I think it works better when we have our cadre of experts writing. (Not only do most people not care what I have to say about cars, but I’m only six months into the industry and still have a lot of learning left to do… it’s safe to say that almost everyone on this blog knows more about cars than I did when I started here, though I am ramping up fast - or trying to!) Anyway, thanks for the good wishes, and I hope all’s well with you too.
ERIC - thanks, wise-guy-ness is always appreciated!
I never said there was *no* marketing, but my hope is that we don’t ever overtly market here. Yes, in the subjects we choose to write about and in our comments about those subjects, I suppose one could argue that we’re marketing. But I’d like to think that we’re trying to have a little bit more of a dialogue or genuine conversation. (Not that marketing isn’t genuine… but there’s channels for that, and blogs… oh heck, you know what I mean!)
More responses in a minute, I’m going to post this one and start a new one.
Christopher Barger
Okay… moving on…
NATE - Of course our blog talks about what we want to talk about - it’s our blog. I’d argue that every blog, whether a corporate one or one written by an individual and only for one’s family, covers the things its owner wants to talk about. But that said, we are trying to do a better job at responding to comments instead of just posting our thoughts.
As the custodian of this blog, it’s one of the things I’m trying to make a priority - and I hope that people have noticed that in the past few months, we’ve at least made some steps in that direction. But thanks for reminding me, honestly, that we still can do better.
EDVARD - Broadening the access we give to GM by expanding our author list is a pretty good idea. Maybe we can start casting the net internally for some non-exec perspectives as well. I like the concept - thanks for the idea!
CHRISTOPHER POPA - Why two? I think I’ve kind of gotten to the thought behind it, but after reviewing everyone’s thoughts maybe we don’t need to redefine the editorial direction. Appreciate your thoughts!
GARY - I think I explained in my original post what the thought process was. We’re out here trying to make these blogs better and to sharpen their focus. Frankly, blanket dismissals of our efforts as disingenuous don’t contribute to the effort.
As for us having specific Q&A time with specific execs, I’m not really eager to set up executives here for a conversation for which some folks are lying in wait just to instantly dismiss everything that we say, regardless of what it is.
I think we’ve proven that we publish an awful lot of criticism of us on this blog. But to have an honest dialogue, both parties have to be open-minded.
ALEX - I am glad you liked the video posts. And thanks for the suggestion and opinion. Your point’s well taken.
Schmeltz - Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it. I don’t think we’ll fold up FYI; as I said in a previous response, I think it’s got its place. But maybe I’m wrong (or not entirely right) about needing to split vehicle-related posts from issue-related posts. So I appreciate the feedback!
PDBW - I think that’s an excellent idea in concept anyway. I’m definitely going to pass it on to the Chevy team and see if we might be able to make something like that work. Thanks!
Hi ALTFUELS - You bring up a very good point… one that I as a newbie to the industry can sometimes forget: green enthusiast and auto enhusiast are not mutually exclusive. I appreciate the reminder, and it’s maybe the best argument yet about why we should keep the discussions on one site.
HOTCARNUT - the schedule thing works in theory, but you’re right: nailing down exec level people is hard. I can tell you from many conversations with him that Bob wishes he had more time for FastLane. (Conversely, it’s my personal belief that if he spent more time up here, there’s at least a few members of this community who’d start ripping him for blogging too much and not focusing on the business.)
But maybe if we expand our author pool a little bit we might be able to keep a more regular flow of content and a more regular schedule. I’m open to the idea, just need to figure out if enough people could make the time.
And no, I can’t just write up the schedule and tell them to stick to it; there’s only a handful of people in GM whose job it specifically is to engage in social media, and they’re all on my team. I can’t make anyone else make time - nor should I in some cases. Anyway, it’s a productive thought and I appreciate it.
NATE - you have an intruiging idea. Do you think that readers of this blog are a truly representative sample of the buying public? (I include myself in this - I don’t mean to be perjorative!) Do enthusiasts reflect the larger tastes? (Similarly, I love baseball, am a fanatic about it; but I suspect casual fans appreciate different things about the game and the league has to market to them, not me.) I’m not disagreeing with you, just asking your opinion.
That might be something we should look at. Thanks for the comment.
Okay, more coming.
Christopher Barger
JOHN - I’m sorry you’re bitter at us, whatever the reason. I’ll just remind you of our comment policy: to be published, a comment must be a) free of profanity and vulgarity; b) absent of any personal attacks or insults; and c) on topic and related to the subject matter of the post it’s responding to. I don’t think those are unreasonable rules, and I make no apologies for them.
As anyone can see, we publish an awful lot of comments that are negative or critical of us. So comments that aren’t published likely violated one or more of the review criteria.
NOEL - your point’s valid. If we’re not always fresh with content on one, why do I think we could with two, right?
Except that I don’t think it’s entirely fair for people to expect that we’re going to be up here every day. We’re not professional bloggers. And most companies haven’t even had the level of interaction in the blogosphere that we have. It’s not what some would demand, but it’s something - would you agree?
Can we do better at engaging more often? Sure. I’ve said that in other comments and I’ll confess to it again. But I don’t think it’s necessary for a new post to be up every day for this blog to be successful or an honest attempt at engagement. I just hope we can have more engaged, interactive discussions when we do get on - realistically, that seems a more reachable target, quite frankly, given some of the schedules we’re dealing with. Of course, we could always broaden the palate of authors…
On a separate note, thank you for being committed to having your next vehicle be a Volt. I appreciate it and so does everyone here.
EDVARD - open source is an interesting concept for the blog, and I know it works in the IT/software industry (I came from that industry, so I am familiar with it).
I have to say, I’d argue that we’ve been as open about our work on the Volt as any automaker has ever been about one of its conceptual vehicles as we work to make it a reality.
But the problem (as I see it anyway, and speaking only for me) in the automotive industry is that there’d be nothing to prevent Toyota, Ford, Chrysler, BMW, Honda, and my uncle from coming in and seeing everything we do at the same time.
I guess my question would be, under an open source model, how would an automaker make money and stay in business? If any automaker did all its development out in the open for everyone to see, how then to make money? Just a thought.
SHETH et al - yes, there are people in the world whose “thing” is reflexive negativity. But I think all of us in this community are wise enough to discern honest criticism and interest in a true dialogue from mere howling at the moon.
Altfuels, Noel, and others suggest that some get frustrated with alternate or critical viewpoints. That’s not true, at least in our case. Personally, I do get frustrated with
a) reflexive negativity — there are some who, if we announced a car that could drive on water, would complain that our tires got wet;
b) go on and on and on… I had a professor in comms school who always said, “If you can’t make your point in 500 words, you don’t have one.” (Funny, I don’t think I got an A from that guy!)
But the critical or alternate viewpoints themselves aren’t problematic; I would hope that we’ve demonstrated that repeatedly (altfuels, Noel, Gary, and everyone else altfuels mentioned in his response don’t seem to have much problem with their comments showing up often).
Anyway… I really do need to get back to other things today; I’ve spent the last three hours looking at everyone’s responses and trying to give a thoughtful reply to as many as I could. Thanks again for your feedback and for reading.
CB
Frank
Holy Cow Chris, you went above and beyond. Thanks for taking time out to answer our questions.
-Frank
HotCarNut
Chris,
Thanks for the responses. It’s nice to know that the comments are taken seriously and that people at GM are open to change and improvement. I know that a lot of the authors are beyond your control. In my experience though (albeit at a former GM now Rolls-Royce site), if someone like Bob champions an effort (such as this blog), participates in it himself (which he does), and sticks to a schedule, then the project schedule carries a great deal more weight and people will agree to it even though it isn’t a part of their direct responsibilities. For example, say Bob wanted to have a meeting once a month that all of the line managers were required to attend. Each meeting they would discuss a certain line’s upcoming products and seek input from everybody. While the Chevy exec doesn’t really need to be there for the Saab presentation, I bet they would attend and put in their two cents because of who was sitting at the head of the table. After a while, the execs would all figure out that that 30 minutes a month is a good use of their time as it gives them a glimpse into how someone else thinks and feels about GM product.
Long story short: if Lutz deems it important that there’s participation, there will be participation. You may not be able to order it with a schedule, but it will be affected through active leadership by Bob Lutz. I know this sounds bad, but it’s completely true: 99% of people are sheep. They follow the leader, travel in a herd, and don’t step out of sync. Lutz is that rare 1% of the population that is the herd dog - he can get the sheep moving in the right direction.
Noel Park
Thanks for responding. It’s a big step in the right direction.
It’s your blog, but it’s also you who have billions of dollars and corporate survival riding on making the right decisions. You need to get all the feedback you can from the customers.
As to whether the people who comment here represent the public, I would offer the following. I made this comment here once before, so forgive me if I repeat myself.
A smart politician once told me that, for everyone who will take the trouble to call his office, let alone write a letter, there are dozens, if not hundreds, who share the same opinion, but will not take the trouble. I am sure there must be published research on this somewhere, but my experience tells me it’s absolutely true.
A very high level school district official (LA Unified - one of the biggest in the country) once told me the following. “If I get two letters on the same subject from parents, I tell my staff, ‘Keep an eye on this, it’s a potential problem’” If I get 10 non-form letters on an issue, I tell my staff, ‘Get on this, its a major problem’”.
99% of car buyers don’t even know that this blog exists, and 99% of the 1% won’t bother with it. So before anyone dismisses the “vocal minority”, check out the crosshairs centered on your corporate foot.
Christopher Popa
Hello Mr. Barger,
I must say thank you for responding to so many of us, including myself. Although I’ve owned Buicks all my life, I’ve never had a personal response from GM.
- Christopher Popa