Commentary
Ask, whine, respond
- by David , May 27, 2008
Relaying our inner-most anger about a customer service issue can sometimes be difficult.
I've enjoyed following Comcast , Digsby and jetBlue's Twitter accounts. They've provided easy access for the early adopters to tweet-off about positive and negative experiences.
Communication is a two-way road. What makes these accounts useful is not their regular updates, but their responses to @s. (@s, in Twitter speak, are users replying to another user. Example: "@jetblue your PA announcements are too loud. jetBlue's response.) It's a visual and traceable example that someone's customer service staff is actually working.
I could name a few airlines I wish would do this.
Then again, they probably know better.
Knowing your audience and understanding the community is important as well. I think a lot of companies are going to experiment with Social Media and fail because they don't speak the language or know the culture.
If you are thinking about using Twitter you should lurk for awhile before you leap. Maybe even set up an anonymous account and learn the lay of the land first.