Ur-Turn: The Truth About Social Media Influencers

We used to have a column named Ur-Turn where we did published reader views “as a showcase for the diverse perspectives of TTAC’s readers.” Here is a truly diverse one, and the return of Ur-Turn. It comes from our reader Chris DeMorro. As Jack Baruth so eloquently had put I,. “General Motors and Ford both spent obscene amounts of money to fly social media influencers to Detroit from all over the world.” Chris is one of them. Chris was at a couple of these events before, and as an experienced influencer, he is well qualified to write about them.

Full Disclosure: I am one of the 146 “social influencers” flown out by Ford to NAIAS the past few days. It was my third such event in a year, having been flown out to last year’s NAIAS show, and the “Forward with Ford” technology conference last summer. I have also been a Ford fan my whole life.

So I’m off to a great, totally un-biased start.

I am a freelance writer and editor, and as Derek Kreindler so eloquently points out, one among many recent college graduates with little job stability and no benefits. For what it’s worth though, I like both of my writing gigs, and I also liked “the red one” among GM’s Gen Y concept cars.

Regarding Jack’s concerns about “buying influence,” I share them. I’ve met plenty of people at these events who had no idea why they were there, including fitness writers, bicyclists who don’t own cars, and a crazy cat lady. What made her crazy was the cardboard cat cutout she brought along to take pictures of next to the cars. I’m not making this up.

The fact is though, the only event Ford “herded” us to was the 2013 Ford Fusion unveiling. After that, we had six and a half hours of free reign around the whole show. I visited many other press conferences, took lots of pictures, and talked to anyone who would have me. I didn’t have any North Korean-esque minder watching my every tweet or blog post. There were plenty of PR people on hand to answer questions, but we also had a chance to talk to higher ups one on one.

For the most part though, Ford left us to our own devices.

What Ford really did, in my eyes, was bring a bunch of bloggers to Detroit and give them the full auto journalist experience. Ford paid for our flight, hotel, food, and transportation, which in my experience is no different from any major new car review or auto show where the automaker flies “real” auto journalists out to “experience” the car (yes, I’ve done this as well.)

For most of these “influencers,” it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that much of the automotive journalism industry enjoys in a regular basis. The only difference I noticed is the way the bloggers treat the automakers, asking questions sometimes unrelated to cars at all, but important to them, and their readers. Issues like sustainable materials, fair worker wages, and Ford’s role in public transportation. You may not care about that, but other people do, and not everyone was happy with the answer Ford gave them. But these are questions you won’t hear from Car & Driver, or even TTAC.

The most positive thing I took away from the whole experience is that, while there were more than a few people sucking up the hype for all its worth, it also gave a bunch of industry outsiders a look at how the auto writing industry really works. Maybe that will inspire a few of them to deliver more honest, less paid-for opinions. Maybe not.

But I do know that more than a few of these “social media influencers” left saying “Huh, so that’s how it works…”