There have been quite a few stories about how companies are using Twitter as a customer service channel to improve how they connect with consumers. For the most part, I think the consensus is that it’s a good thing that companies are more responsive. But I wouldn’t consider that a win for the company. I think all it has done is teach consumers to threaten companies into giving them better customer service and it has turned customer service into PR function.
If the companies truly cared about customer service, they would invest in other touchpoints – hotline, website, better instruction manuals, in person etc. – because that’s where you can nip the problem in the bud.
Customer service over Twitter is a reaction to all the complaints people are logging on the network and an attempt at damage control. And in a sense, it’s a little self-serving as well. Now a company is resolving customer service problems in front 100 people instead of waiting for that person to tell 5 people about it.
By the numbers, it works. But it misses the whole idea of good customer service which is to preempt complaints by being attentive. These stories about how some company heroically sent a repairman to a complaining customer are indeed very sexy stories of triumph. But is it a triumph if you have thousands of those complaints a day with your handle on it?
Multiple Screens Music Video
This is just a cool little music video from Japan. Purely executional, but the way they use all those little screens and the interaction between the people inside them is done quite well.
via @clevahgrrl
Augmented Reality Gaming
This is a game trailer for "Ghostwire" which will be available for the DSi. Pretty much anything that is exciting these days comes in some form of alternate reality. The DSi has a camera and the microphone which is used to scan for the ghosts you have to deal with inside the game. This is really pushing gaming into that experiential and more emotive space that some developers have been talking about.
The company blog for "Ghostwire" is here.
Last Words
I stumbled upon this website that documents some of the last words of death row inmates from some random clicking. It's surprisingly profound. We could assume that these men had a lot of time to think about their last words. But it doesn't come off as the product of years of fancy wordsmithing, rather the product of years of regret, guilt and remorse expressed in a millions of iterations over and over as they wait for their time to come.
Micro-Volunteerism
Volunteering for a few minutes at a time when ever you can is apparently a new trend. The Extraordinaries is a company that created an iPhone app that allows people to do a quick task - translating something, giving advice, identifying something - on the behalf a non profit. This idea is a mix between crowdsourcing and micro-transactions which theoretically allows more people to participate in causes because it's a fairly minimal commitment, yet they still get the sense of satisfaction doing good.
Read more about it here.
Lost Tribes of NYC
This is a nice, unassuming video from a pair of ethnographers who were interviewing residents in NYC.. They've found a creative way to use soundbites to tell a pretty personal and location based story.
via This Branded Youth
Baseball Infographics
There seems to be a data visualization craze lately here at GSP. For those who can't seem to get enough of it, check out Flip Flop Fly Ball - you guessed it - baseball infographics.
Sarcasm aside, data visualization could be powerful tool and a great add on for fantasy sports that are heavy on stats - baseball and basketball in particular. It could help players see mismatches and patterns much better than line after line of numbers. And at this point, most fantasy sports sites are fairly similar with the exception of where they get their insider news for the players.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
