Listening to Customers, Not "Bowing to Pressure"

From a business standpoint, one of the critical advantages social media bring to the table is the ability to tap into what important segments of the population are thinking. GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, for example, is on the record claiming that the Fastlane blog has provided him with better intelligence than any traditional form of market research.

So now comes the widely reported here, here.)

This characterization really cheeses me off. Here is an organization that is paying attention to the social media space in order to be more directly connected to its customers. The company listened and acted based on what it heard. That’s engagement, not capitulation. Time’s decision to continue publishing Business 2.0 while looking for a buyer—rather than simply suspending publication, as was originally planned—also was prompted by a Facebook group. Again, that was an act of listening, not bowing to pressure.

If more companies “bowed to pressure” like Cadbury and Time, customers would be a happier lot.