Toyota Using Twitter to Rebuild Image after Recalls

Toyota has been grappling with angry backlash over the large safety recalls of its cars, and sales have also taken a hit. In order to repair its tarnished image, Toyota is turning to the microblogging site Twitter. The Japanese automaker has started a branded channel on TweetMeme in association with Federated Media, which will collect and organize Twitter discussions about Toyota.

Named “Toyota Conversations,” the Website aggregates all of the top news about Toyota being discussed on Twitter, from press releases to news articles. The site also features the most popular images and videos being shared on Twitter about the automaker. Additionally, the channel offers Featured Tweets from Toyota’s press room and Twitter account as well as AdTweets, or retweetable advertisements for Toyota from TweetMeme.

Positive Spin

If you look at all of the stories and news collected on the site, you will probably notice that the overwhelming majority of the information is positive. Of course, that is at variance with the negative tone of media coverage of the recalls by Toyota, which has received a great deal of criticism for its manufacturing blunders and response to its vehicles’ safety issues. If you look at the zeitgeist about Toyota on the Twitter app Tweetfeel, the tone of Toyota-related Tweets is undeniably negative. However, TweetMeme channels can be structured to collect only from specific news sources, and it seems that Toyota has chosen to aggregate stories from the most flattering ones.

That said, it is encouraging to watch such a high-profile corporation turn to Twitter to try to burnish its reputation by directly engaging in conversations with American consumers. Now more than ever, Twitter impacts public relations in powerful ways. Toyota and other brands are coming to Twitter in droves to monitor what people are saying about their company and to participate and guide the dialogue as well.