Attention Digg Users: Pontiac wants to capture your attention. And they have spent a considerable amount of money understanding social media in order to utilize the social media realm to their advantage. First, Pontiac and Yahoo have launched a car club online at pontiacunderground.com – mimicking the popular digg style vote buttons, and taking advantage of Yahoo's social media assets (such as Yahoo Answers, Flickr photos, and Yahoo Groups) they plan to ride the social media trend.
The entire site is all consumers submitted or generated content – because people rely on other people to make car buying decisions.
But is it a true community or a big advertisement?
Front and center is the 'pontiac informer' which broadcasts news and links relating to Pontiac cars to the entire community, as voted on by users. While many of the site's visitors are fans, there is no negative content or places to voice concerns. Therefore, while this site mimics the digg community in look and feel, it is not a true community forum. Simply another marketing scheme developed to ride to popularity of digg.
Overall verdict: A big advertisement for Pontiac and not a true community.
