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They don't seem to have an active Twitter account. Just sending an email through the contact form for now. Wait, what? Since when is twitter a replacement for

They don't seem to have an active Twitter account. Just sending an email through the contact form for now. Wait, what? Since when is twitter a replacement for email?

mikeash 15y ago
Twitter often works better. The semi-realtime nature of the system means responses often come faster, worthless autoresponse systems haven't found their way onto Twitter yet, and the public-ish nature of Twitter means the other side is somewhat under a spotlight and this often improves their behavior. Obviously, it depends on the situation and the company, but Twitter can be a great way to approach some places. For example, if I was having problems with Comcast's phone support, I'd rather tweet @ComcastCares than figure out how to e-mail them.
ceejayoz 15y ago
Since major corporations started having turnaround times of minutes when contacted in the public manner that is Twitter rather than days, weeks, or never.
billpatrianakos 15y ago
I second what mikeash said about Twitter and I'd add that because of the nature of Twitter you'll be posting a support inquiry publicly (I doubt many DM's get sent) which makes the company want to resolve the issue and in the process make themselves look good. It's like publicly saying "hey, we're a company that takes support seriously, just look at us being helpful". There was a great post on HN a few months back about a guy who got a steak delivered to him when he arrived home from the airport from his favorite restaurant because he tweeted something about really wanting one of their steaks before his flight departed and he mentioned them. The company had followed him on Twitter, knew he was a loyal customer and went the extra mile to personally deliver the steak when his flight landed. I always think of this story when I think about customer service for my own company. The point is that Twitter's public nature can make or break you as a business and smart businesses know how to leverage that power for positive PR.

They don't seem to have an active Twitter account. Just sending an email through the contact form for now. Wait, what? Since when is twitter a replacement for email?

mikeash 15y ago

Twitter often works better. The semi-realtime nature of the system means responses often come faster, worthless autoresponse systems haven't found their way onto Twitter yet, and the public-ish nature of Twitter means the other side is somewhat under a spotlight and this often improves their behavior. Obviously, it depends on the situation and the company, but Twitter can be a great way to approach some places. For example, if I was having problems with Comcast's phone support, I'd rather tweet @ComcastCares than figure out how to e-mail them.

ceejayoz 15y ago

Since major corporations started having turnaround times of minutes when contacted in the public manner that is Twitter rather than days, weeks, or never.

billpatrianakos 15y ago

I second what mikeash said about Twitter and I'd add that because of the nature of Twitter you'll be posting a support inquiry publicly (I doubt many DM's get sent) which makes the company want to resolve the issue and in the process make themselves look good. It's like publicly saying "hey, we're a company that takes support seriously, just look at us being helpful". There was a great post on HN a few months back about a guy who got a steak delivered to him when he arrived home from the airport from his favorite restaurant because he tweeted something about really wanting one of their steaks before his flight departed and he mentioned them. The company had followed him on Twitter, knew he was a loyal customer and went the extra mile to personally deliver the steak when his flight landed. I always think of this story when I think about customer service for my own company. The point is that Twitter's public nature can make or break you as a business and smart businesses know how to leverage that power for positive PR.