Comments on: ABC Sets Up New Twitter Users to be Disappointed

By: ABC Sets Up New Twitter Users to be Disappointed « Media Bullseye – A New Media and Communications Magazine

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:27:28 +0000

[...] This post originally appeared at the author’s blog, Marketing Monster. [...]

By: Mary Wehrle

Mary Wehrle — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:21:11 +0000

Out of curiosity, I watched for Comcast tweets in Summize right after the story aired and then again about 23 hours later. I was surprised to see the number of new twitter users who seemed to have the wrong idea about twitter. Wish I new how to aggregate data from twitter to track the number of new twitter users from that night and go back and see how many of them stay and get involved in the whole twitter life.

By: Adele McAlear

Adele McAlear — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:12:36 +0000

Tim – thanks for reminding us that not everyone understands the basics of online communication. That’s something that many people (including myself) take for granted.

Pishba – I’m glad to hear that the email address posted on the @comcastcares Twitter bio was effective in solving your issues. It’s a good idea to have included that additional contact point and I hope that others pick up on that method.

Thanks everyone for your comments!

By: Adele McAlear

Adele McAlear — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:58:12 +0000

Frank – Thank you so much for responding to my post. You’ve taken a very positive approach to using Twitter and I admire your ability to adapt to the changing demands that this kind of mass media attention attracts. I wish you and your team the best of luck in maintaining momentum and meeting the heightened expectations of new users to the service. I’m certain that many companies are watching and learning from what Comcast is doing with this program.

By: ComcastCares

ComcastCares — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:00:15 +0000

As promised, I wanted to come back and provide my thoughts (once I had time to gather them). Although I agree with the premise that Twitter works because it is a great community and there is a unique interaction, I do think this type of discussion about social media is a good thing. With the number of posts that came right after the story we did have to change our approach guiding individuals to email, we were able to address them in the same manner as prior Customers that we have assisted. Beyond our specific assistance, stories like the one you reference help open the eyes of many to the wonderful world of the blogosphere.

For the new users themselves I would recommend that they review the video regarding using Twitter and pay attention to how others use it. When used properly it is a great community to be a part of.

For companies that decide to get involved, I would recommend that they use the search tools and pay attention to how the community operates before interacting. It is so important to do this right.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Have a great weekend.

Frank
Comcast
@ComcastCares on Twitter

By: Pishba

Pishba — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:34:55 +0000

I have my own Comcast/Twitter story. Had some issues with Comcast billing and a technical issue. Went to the Comcast Twitter stream a few weeks ago as opposed to calling their customer service. Noticed they feature an email to use – which I usedinstead of tweeting about my issues. I had a call back within an hour and all issues solved (including a visit from a tech) within a few hours. The point is I consciously decided not to communicate with Comcast directly through Twitter but through email. I did put in my Twitter stream what a great job they did in responding do quickly and having dealt with all my issues.

By: Tim (@Twalk) Walker

Tim (@Twalk) Walker — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:26:28 +0000

Sounds like the ABC story could have been framed (much) better, but in general I’m amazed at how people misperceive the function of online tools. Case in point: At Hoover’s, we (a) cover bazillions of companies, and (b) have a “Feedback” link on each page.

We mean “Please give us feedback if there’s a problem with this record,” and the vast bulk of our user base understands this. (In fact, we get lots of useful feedback from users, e.g. informing us that a certain executive joined the company last week.)

Yet a tiny – but consistent – minority – of our users clicks the “Feedback” link to give us feedback ABOUT the company, e.g. “I have a complaint about the widget I bought from XYZ Corp. last month” or “The service I got in your [sic] location in Podunkville was horrible!”

Don’t know exactly how this applies to Twitter, other than as a reminder (to myself) that there will always be noise in the signal.

By: Ike

Ike — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:58:00 +0000

As someone who considers continuity of operations as part of crisis communications strategy, it’s smart for Twitter to *not* do its customer service on Twitter.

By: Rick Wolff

Rick Wolff — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:41:45 +0000

For your future reference, here’s the link to ABC’s story, as long as it lasts: either http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/story?id=5388404&page=1 or http://is.gd/10j3 , whichever works. My opinion may follow in a later post.

By: Michelle/chelpixie

Michelle/chelpixie — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:26:23 +0000

Not only are there unrealistic expectations but Twitter didn’t step in to correct any of the misconceptions. Hopefully the companies tried. This is going to be an issue with new users wanting to “air their gripes” and not being satisfied with a simple exchange.

Each of these companies do customer service on Twitter because they care about their clients, an experiment that’s working. I’m hoping instead of airing complaints and not caring who is on the other end of their words people will realize that customer service reps of these companies are people too. Ones with restrictions on what they are allowed to do to resolve customer’s problems.