Basic Motors didn’t simply halt Twitter promoting after Elon Musk purchased the social community. The automaker’s CEO and automobile manufacturers haven’t even tweeted since.
Mary Barra final posted on Oct. 27, the identical day that Musk closed his $44 billion buy, when GM’s chief retweeted a message from autonomous-vehicle startup Cruise LLC. Since then, Barra and GM’s consumer-vehicle model accounts — together with Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC — have been conspicuously quiet.
The Twitter absence suggests GM’s retreat from the platform was extra complete than indicated when it joined different manufacturers pausing promoting final month. The automaker mentioned then that it could quickly halt paid advertisements whereas making an attempt to higher perceive the route of the positioning below its new possession.
The problems for automakers on Twitter are heightened as a result of Musk additionally runs Tesla Inc., the main maker of EVs. GM goals to make its complete lineup electrical by 2035 and different firms are additionally racing to develop battery-powered automobiles. A Twitter pullback is giving firms time to evaluate content material requirements and use of promoting and buyer information below Musk.
“With a competitor proudly owning the platform, it’s vital for us to make sure our promoting methods and information will be safely managed,” GM mentioned this week through electronic mail. It referred to as Twitter “simply one among many channels out there” to share data and mentioned it could “select the channels and platforms that may be only at any time limit.”
The corporate didn’t deal with Barra’s Twitter absence. The CEO has remained energetic on different social media reminiscent of LinkedIn, placing up a year-in-review missive speaking about GM’s all-electric future on Nov. 10.
Like Barra, R.J. Scaringe, the CEO of EV maker Rivian Automotive Inc., final tweeted on Oct. 27 and has been silent there since. Rivian declined to remark.
GM hasn’t organized a complete Twitter blackout, saying it could have interaction as vital with clients. GM President Mark Reuss has continued to tweet, as have the automaker’s BrightDrop electrical van enterprise and Cruise, through which GM has a controlling stake.
The self-driving firm’s CEO, Kyle Vogt, put up a current submit asserting that it was beginning to provide robotaxi rides throughout daytime hours in San Francisco. Cruise spokesman Aaron McLear mentioned the enterprise finds Twitter to be an efficient away to speak with customers and folks within the tech neighborhood.
Different main carmakers and business leaders are nonetheless tweeting as effectively, together with Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley.
Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co., BMW AG, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen Group all have used the platform since Musk took over.