Commentary

A Very Cool Move By Toyota

As the owner of two Toyotas, I was fascinated to read that the auto company is rolling out a private social network for Toyota customers and their cars. The Toyota Friend network can be used with smartphones, tablets and other portable devices as well as the dashboard of some auto models, and is positioned as a tool to use social media to manage car maintenance. But one assumes that it will also enable Toyota owners to chat with one another.

Is this a smart play that will enable the company to intervene early to solve problems that plague owners? Or is it corporate suicide, because customers can gang up on issues that dealers used to deal with on a one-to-one basis? Will every fried fuse and frayed floor mat become a crisis, driven by a crowd-sourced lynch mob? Time will tell, but you have to give Toyota credit; it is one hell of a gutsy move.

Although social media has made bitching about your recent nonfunctional purchase pretty simple, you would have to have a good deal of confidence in your quality control to invite folks to share their feelings with other owners of the same product in essentially a public forum.

But it is also a brilliant idea -- especially if owners can suggest solutions to each other that save trips to the dreaded service department. I can't think of a better way to build brand loyalty than to be reassured by other owners that your problems are fixable -- or to have the brand intervene and offer a solution before having to wait on the eternally maddening help line.

I would expect and welcome the brand to use such a forum to introduce new products, upgrades or maintenance advice. And how efficient is it to be able to reach your customer base at essentially no cost, since you are creating the media to begin with?

Will some consumer abuse such a system and use it to relentlessly complain? Sure. I am one of them. I would bomb the hell out of an Apple list about the unreliability of their nano player until they gave in and exchanged the one I bought in January -- which has been replaced with refurbished ones (twice) that don't work either -- with a new one. That is because I know it is a $20 item to them. And every move I make to get a fix requires hours of my time.

But the transparency of such a controlled consumer network would be refreshing and a step toward using social media for something more than trying to gather "likes."

You go, Toyota (and make sure I am on the list).

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