A major concern with social media, for large companies is that they can’t control the conversation any longer. In the past, individuals couldn’t afford to blanket the airwaves with a commercial about their problem. Companies could and they grew very large. There was no balance of power between customer and large business. Companies have taken advantage of that intentionally and unintentionally. Social media (twitter, blogs, Facebook, etc.) give consumers a voice and it’s slowly restoring the balance of power. Now it’s up to the companies to address this change.

My question is this: If Comcast can provide 3 hour response to a Twitter complaint, why can’t they do that for complaints that originate from a phone call? Either they can and haven’t been because there wasn’t an incentive or they can’t and the more popular twitter becomes, the worse twitter customer service will get.

I like to think social media is a reconning for companies that haven’t been giving customers the attention they deserve. Power is balancing out and companies are going to have to do more than open a Twitter account to survive. They’re going to have to address people’s problems and their own service.

Let me hear your comments and please take the polls:

What was your twitter customer service experience?

How does twitter impact customer service?