One of my big interests as of late has been social media as a format for social movements. Just this morning as I wrote my first Tweet of the day, I noticed a strange trending topic (Yele) which turned out to be musician Wyclef Jean’s chosen word to text to donate to Haitian earthquake relief. Social movements and services on Twitter are exploding everyday. I even categorized some of the different services Tweets can offer/receive in my portfolio.
So after many successful experiments and a good eye for a Twitter moment, I immediately took to Twitter yesterday when my Internet wasn’t working properly. Some background: after a year and a half living in an apartment with AT&T wireless Internet, I moved in with a friend to stay off-lease so I can move when I eventually get a big-people job. He has Charter for his Internet/cable. In Athens, Ga. where we live, Charter is the big-bad Internet monopoly. It fails often and hard, and has a history of bad customer service among UGA students. But I discovered yesterday they are attempting to alter their reputation in our small town with their very up-to-date customer service on Twitter.
Read the story after the jump…
My Story
To make it simple, yesterday I woke up on my third or fourth day of Charter. Like most days I immediately grabbed my computer, ready for my morning routine of emails, Facebook, New York Times, etc. Then, horror of horrors, the Internet wouldn’t load. It was slow, lethargic even. It was back to the days of dial-up speed, something I haven’t experienced in years.
Now, let me add here how much you discover about your technology habits when you have something like slow Internet or a power outage. While the boys of the house were screaming about Xbox Live not loading, I had continuous problems letting one page slowly load at a time. I kept opening more tabs, clicking on links and the like. I’m a multi-tasker, I feel like I’m procrastinating if I only do one thing at a time, and high-speed internet feeds this.
Back to the story. When I realized the problem was with the Internet service, I used some valuable loading time to get Twitter up, where I posted a Tweet about Charter’s failure. Within minutes, I had a tech from Umatter2Charter respond offering help. At first I feared a bot, but then realized after looking at the very professional, well-linked profile it was real.
I gave the matter time, then posted an entry about teaching my roommates how to get customer service through Twitter. Two more responses came from the Charter team. I then opened a dialogue with direct messages and Tweets (which you can see at the bottom of this post) where they walked me through some basic support help. They asked for a speed test, the hilarious “results” of which you can see below:
The speed test, which somehow resulted in all 0's.
A reboot followed, and when I couldn’t respond within 15 minutes (the Internet had finally quit entirely) my roommate received a call from their customer support team. Short story, we have Internet service back up today.
How Social Media Saved the Day (for surfing)
So, how does Twitter turn a company known all over town into a respectable customer service-focused business? Ok, of course there is some irony in having to use the Internet to tell my Internet service provider about my problem with the Internet, but still, I can’t let the irony get in the way of results.
Charter used Twitter to give itself a face, to let me see the names and faces of the men willing to help. They empower them to seek out people, instead of making us look up service numbers, wait on hold and then talk to a possibly-automated customer-service nightmare. No outsourcing, no “press 1 for X” dial systems that are hard to use on touch-screen smart phones and no hassle to me, the customer.
Instead, all I had to do was complain on Twitter, share my problem, and receive help unrequited. I may not be blown out of the water by Charter programs and prices, but I have never had a more seamless customer service experience, and thats after working in the field for three years myself.
Social media is a field ripe for experiment. Any company willing to explore this new realm to announce their products, work up some frenzy or simply assist their customers through a problem will reap the benefits of happy customers willing to write up blog posts and tell their friends about their experience. Social media, even something as seemingly inane as Twitter cannot be ignored as a flash in the pan. You have a potential audience of millions, and whether you are a newspaper looking to get eyes on the page or the big-bad monopoly trying to change your public image, you can’t ignore the water-cooler, even if it has a funny little blue bird as a mascot.
I complain and discuss my Internet issues. Also, I make small talk
My answers come, as well as some interest in what's going on
