Social Media Hot Tub

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: (more…)