The new Citigroup: Straight to the public

Citigroup (Citigroup news) is trying an interesting tactic in its desire for better media coverage. It has launched a blog to tout the "new Citigroup (C)." One of the initial posts came from none other than embattled CEO Vikram Pandit (Vikram Pandit news): "Welcome to new.citi.com, a new way for us to share ideas and create dialogue on all sorts of topics ranging from the global economy to personal finance, from microfinance to mobile technology."

He says the blog is "needed now more than ever." But the new Citi blog, like other corporate blogs, is tricky as a marketing tool. What the CEO or any other executive puts out will be heavily reviewed out of necessity; you can pretty much rule out unvarnished opinions. What you inevitably end up with is a lot of stale marketing stuff. I doubt we'll hear Pandit weigh in with his true views of Citi's new directors, for example. But such moves speak to the need for better communication. And there will be some benefits. For example, several posters asked good questions. Citi staffers were able to respond in at least one case. There's always the case that some people will think the positive posts--"keep up the hard work Vikram"--are mere plants. 

For more:
- here's the blog

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