Ah, the power of blogs has once again been proven.
“New York Times” Columnist Thomas Friedman responded this week to GM’s FYI Blog post about his column. Then, GM responded to Friedman’s response. (This back-and-forth could make me dizzy.)
Granted, a GM blog carries much more weight than most corporate blogs, or most any other blog for that matter, but the fact that GM’s post definitely caught the “Times’” and Friedman’s attention is very telling. In fact, GM says that very same point:
That the Times would respond in that way to any blog posting is significant.
Now that GM has responded to the “NYT’s” response to GM’s response (GM also responded about its efforts to get at letter printed by the NYT) to the original Friedman article, I wonder if next week, will Friedman offer his third counterpoint? (Again, Friedman’s articles are available only to TimesSelect subscribers, of which I am not; neither do I subscribe to the “NYT” print.)
While all this is educational, entertaining and worth watching, I wonder what — if any — affect it will have on how GM is reported in the “NY Times” (other than Friedman’s columns, of course). Usher Lieberman made this comment in my first post:
Make sure that when you take this tack you are prepared to forever sever your relations with that outlet. It may not come to that, but if you’re not prepared for that outcome then you are not prepared to take this kind of gamble.
It’s about picking your battles, deciding when the issue is important enough to publically air your views and comments about a media outlet — or customer or competitor or anyone you talk about on a public blog — and being sure you can take any consequences that may arise from your public blogging and online actions.
This even includes posting pix about you partying on MySpace or blogging about your employer.
– Mike
Technorati tags: GM, New York Times, Thomas Friedman, corporate blogging, PR, public relations
