Week 3: Social and interactive media escalates customer's voice

Here are some thoughts from the The Origins of Social Media article posted for week 3.

Taking the posting example of Vincent Ferrari on the cancellation conversation with AOL is a stark example of customer service amplified to the public.

Now, there are three classes of customers, the usual ones who are happy with the service and the prices, second are the ones who only want the best service and are willing to pay any price and third are the disgruntled customers.

Clearly Vincent falls into the third category. Also, the third category based on conventional customer segments are usually ignored, because, it is a lot of work for the provider to satisfy this customer. Therefore seldom action is taken, regardless of the percentage of the customers in this one.

WIth the advent of the social media, Vincent voiced his thoughts which bolstered others to think about it and voice their own. This effect cascades in such a way that it forces the provider to do something to prevent itself from cratering, something that otherwise would have been ignored in those days where the provider could afford to ignore or delay actions to satisfy the disgruntled customer, simply because they are not heard to the large public.

I am an avid follower of CNET since I keep an eye on consumer electronics latest and greatest. I am able to learn almost all pros and cons sitting in front of my laptop or using my smartphone, as opposed to me going to Frys or Best Buy to understand less than 10% of what I learnd from CNET. Also, one gets a biased opinion usually a favorable ones from most of them in these stores, since the persons you are talking to are salespersons whose goal is to sell what they have in the store.

Gone are the days which has the 'read-only' internet concept, Nowadays, almost every site has a blog which is perhaps the most interactive way for everyone to give their opinion. At the end, every customer gets an unbiased view of the product that they are interested.

Personally, I write blogs related to energy especially in the renewable energy frontier. I get comments on my posts and as well as one gets a sense of satisfaction of being a positive influence in the community. h

Also, with the internet costs falling down and the exponential rise of ubiquitous and pervasive computing via smartphones, one can only envision the interactivity to increase out of proportion.