July 8th, 2010 
lance4hire That’s the problem with the freedom of the press – it has a way of staying free. It’s the quandary from which newspapers simply can’t extricate themselves. The truth is, they can’t help themselves. Like the scorpion and the frog, it’s their nature.
But, OK, good for us, then. Read the rest of this entry »
May 20th, 2010 lance4hire It’s far too easy to pick on the companies shooting themselves in the foot with their social media-based customer service efforts. I almost started to feel a little sorry for Sprint yesterday, after I received this tweet from Rich Pesce, the company’s social media boss:
Had I been too harsh? Well, no. I’m a customer, and have been for a long time. A customer deserves to act like a shareholder, even more so – because, after all, we’re not garnering the benefits of owning a chunk in the company and when we’re not even benefiting from the product, we’re just left with our pockets hanging out.
Another nation heard from
I absolve myself of any consumer activist guilt; but the Hot Tub is supposed to be a conversation. It can’t be that without a survey sample that includes the good with the bad. So the question bubbled up: Who’s doing it right? I thought of @comcastcares. Already, it’s a win. Because whether or not this famed “Comcast Twitter guy” lives up to the hype or not, he’s managed to entwine the company’s brand image in with an online presence of heroic repute.
The difference is immediately discernable. @comcastcares is a guy, not an logo. Oh, and he has a name. It’s Frank. I tweeted this morning, on my quest for the online customer service holy grail:
@comcastcares what is the secret to delivering #customerservice by #socialmedia? Why do you guys do it better than some other big cos?
His reply: Read the rest of this entry »
May 19th, 2010 lance4hire Maybe you remember my Spleen piece where I took aim at Sprint. If you haven’t seen it, please take a look. It will give you some background so my current state of mind might seem a little less, er, unhinged.
OK. All caught up? So today I get another friendly reminder my Sprint payment is late. I go to the payment page of the now-functioning (or so it would initially seem) Sprint.com. I enter my digits, billing zip code, yadda yadda, press “continue.” The site opens another payment form like nothing ever happened. I check my checking account. No funds taken out. So I’m not sure if the payment’s gone through or not. And you DO remember my Dante analogy for the phone queue. And then once you’ve made it into the pit to a phone operator…well, as it goes, “Abandon all hope…” To be fair, I’ve spoken with some adept associates at Sprint. But given the bulk of my experience, the odds are against me.
I notice a handy-dandy “chat” icon on the top of the billing page. I click it. I get this: Read the rest of this entry »
May 14th, 2010 lance4hire 
When: June 7, 2010, 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Where: Oasis Restaurant, Holiday Inn Airport at Gulf Coast Town Center
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Elemental Stone and Waterworks, Inc.
For the next Social Media Club of Southwest Florida event, learn the nuts and bolts of online networking. If you don’t know a tweet from a blog – or if you’re looking to fine tune skills you already have – you’re sure to learn many helpful tips and tricks. Read the rest of this entry »
May 4th, 2010 lance4hire 
My son is 9. He invents new ways to augment the assault capabilities of his Nerf dart gun. This enterprise often involves trip wires and remote triggering mechanisms, as well as machine gun hide build-outs from his bunk bed ladder. Sometimes his ideas overshadow his ability to fashion a working prototype. He gets frustrated. Read the rest of this entry »
May 3rd, 2010 lance4hire Social media provides real estate agents more tools than ever to get their listings seen. Is there ever such a thing as too much exposure? Well, no. Read the rest of this entry »
April 16th, 2010 lance4hire Or how I became a customer service princess warrior…
…and how you can too (and why you should)
When the phone calls and email don’t work, take it to twitter – a lot. Lather rinse repeat. Fan the company on Facebook and decorate their wall with your discontent. Wait for the phone to ring. Read the rest of this entry »
April 14th, 2010 lance4hire OK, so this is only really the second in this occasional series. See Number 13: Forgiveness for the first. You’ll notice the irony in the sequence here in a moment.
Whoops, indeed!
April 7th, 2010 lance4hire 
No need to reinforce your window screens; it’s not that kind of swarm. It’s the kind where a herd of Foursquare lunatics ravenous for the ultimate badge converge on a local business and take the place over. Read the rest of this entry »
March 26th, 2010 lance4hire Birthdays are important! What better anniversary than one that commemorates another safe journey around the sun?
For Twitterphiles, there is yet another reason to celebrate. If you go to When Did You Join Twitter? you can calculate your Twitter age. Read the rest of this entry »
Sara Fitzpatrick Comito is a poet, freelance writer, communications director at Elemental Stone and Waterworks, Inc., and a member of the Social Media Club of Southwest Florida steering committee.
She is a frequent contributor to Naples Daily News and her has appeared or is forthcoming in nthposition; The Camel Saloon; Short, Fast, and Deadly; Barrier Islands Review and Hip Mama. She is the editor of the online art/literary journal Orion Headless.
She lives in Fort Myers with her husband and nine-year-old son.
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