Twitter.com taps into customers' need to vent, and companies are listening
12:17 p.m. Thursday, July 24, 2008
Tracey Wallace is a single mother who runs an internet Web design company from home.
On a recent Monday morning she discovered her telephone, cable and internet service did not work and she was "mad as hell."
"I need my computer. I need the Internet. I need my phone, and I need people on the other end," she said.
She called Comcast, her cable, phone and internet provider.
"At least an hour and a half to two hours before I actually got through to somebody and had a date and time, and now I know it is going to be Thursday," she said.
Tracey logged onto an site called Twitter, the latest social networking rage.
It asks users one simple question: What are you doing? Answers must be short and to the point.
Tracey's post: "Internet down in my house. Arrrrrgh. Can't fix until THURSDAY. Shoot me."
Frank Eliason saw her message. He's a digital detective at Comcast who combs through Twitter and other internet communities 24 hours a day seven days a week.
"We really just search the internet for words like 'Comcast,' and we reach out and gather feedback and we reach out and help someone Comcast fixed her problem in hours," Eliason said.
"My business partner called me and said this guy from Comcast corporate is on the phone, and I don't know what you have done but he wants to talk to you," she said.
People are logging on to Twitter to share what's on their minds. It gives someone like Tracey an incredibly powerful bull horn.
Among those listening in corporate America: Comcast, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, Kodak and Dell. They are aggressively protecting their brands and redefining customer service.
Post a comment
(Requires free registration.)