Little Bird Makes a Big Difference
A Twitter Success Story
On Christmas my girlfriend gave me an iPhone – my first – and imagine my excitement. Until two days later when I dropped it on the carpet in an art gallery and the screen cracked. I was pissed, naturally, but not devastated, because the phone had been purchased with Best Buy’s Black Tie Protection Plan.
It was the second iPhone my girlfriend purchased in a month, and like she did the first time, she expressed an interest in the protection plan, because she had enrolled in it for multiple items in the past (such as the two flat screens we bought from BB in August). The BB representative gave her all of the documentation and went through the “recommendation” checklist, also writing down that she would be getting the Black Tie protection. At no time was it mentioned that there were different levels of coverage – particularly that accidental damage – the one we’d be most interested in since the standard warranty covers most other things – wasn’t included in the standard plan.
This is only where the problem began. The employee bumbled a number of things, starting with charging us $30 for a new SIM card which was supposed to come with the iPhone – we knew this because she had just purchased one a month earlier. But the bigger blunder came when he failed to even ring her up for the Black Tie plan, after she mentioned it several times. Of course it would be just our luck that the phone would fall and the screen would crack a few days later. Only upon bringing the phone back to Best Buy to take advantage of the protection plan do we realize his mistake.
After talking with the manager, she said there was nothing she could do, even after being shown clear evidence that there was every intention on my girlfriend’s part to purchase the plan. She did, however, refund us for the SIM card that we weren’t supposed to be charged for in the first place.
I called Best Buy national and explained the situation, at which time I was informed that the Black Tie protection plan – at least the standard version – does not even cover accidental damage. Yet I know for a fact that when sales associates are pushing for the plan, they emphasize how it covers products well outside the standard warranty, up to and including accidental damage. Why else would anyone bother, anyway, given BB’s own return policy, and Apple’s year long warranty? So the associate on the phone’s “consolation” was that even if the employee had done his job correctly, I still would not have been covered for accidental damage. She then proceeded to read me all of the fine print from the agreement, on how accidental damage is not covered.
I was left with an iPhone with a cracked screen, and no way of fixing it short of purchasing a new screen from Apple for $200, or trying to fix it myself with spare parts and voiding my warranty. While I understand how on a strictly technical level Best Buy is not liable for the damage to my phone, as a measure of good faith and good customer service, I thought that they would do more to help me. Had I bought the proper plan – that is, had the employee done his job correctly and explained the different levels of service, then actually rang my girlfriend up for that service, then whatever losses Best Buy received for repairing/replacing the phone would have been incurred at that time. So I was not at all certain why some compromise couldn’t be made.
Enter the little bird.
On December 30th, I tweeted about my discontent with Best Buy, to warn others who may have considered purchasing the Black Tie Protection Plan. Within 15 minutes, I received a reply from a Best Buy employee, and after a series of backs and forths, I was advised to email the company’s “Twelpforce” with my situation, to see what they could do for me.
I did so, and today – only 5 days later – I received a reply from the “community connector” department of Best Buy corporate, who contacted the manager at the Best Buy where I made my purchase. Within an hour or so, she told me that the manager agreed to replace my iPhone.
Ordinarily, when you have a phone replaced through Best Buy’s protection plan, they use what they call the “Rapid Exchange”, having a new unit shipped to their store, and providing you with a loaner phone in the meantime. The loaner phone is never the same as the phone you’re replacing – and you have to put down a $150 deposit, which is refunded to you after the loaner phone is returned in tact. So in my case, I’d be temporarily out $150 to use an inferior phone.
And that’s what makes this story all the more incredible, because upon returning the phone to the store tonight, it was replaced with a new iPhone on the spot. One short transaction later, involving a call to AT&T for a hardware swap, and switching my SIM card to the new phone, and I’m back in business.
All because I made a fuss through Twitter and the right people took notice. While I cannot say that Best Buy will again be my first choice for electronics purchases, I am very grateful for those employees who went beyond the call and provided awesome customer service. I find it terribly frustrating that only those consumers who are willing to – and have to know how – to raise a fuss, or to resist corporate “handling” are able to receive such a level of service, but it has also shown me just how powerful the internet can be – and how useful Twitter can be.
So keep on tweeting, everyone. Because as it turns out, people really are listening…
Wow. It’s amazing what complaining to the right channel can do. I think I’m going to start that whenever these companies screw me over.
Thanks for writing your story. Take care and enjoy your new iPhone…
and may I recommend one of the many iPhone cases we have to offer?
And here I thought twitter was a waste of time
. Well…I still think it is, but it’s cool to see that Best Buy employees took notice of your tweet. I’ll have to keep this in mind if I get into a situation of corporate “handling”.
Twitter is no more a waste of time than blogging. It’s just another channel for spreading memes. And given people’s short attention span, it’s about the equivalent of a “hook” – if you can say enough in 140 characters to get someone’s attention, then MAYBE they’ll read the rest of what you have to say – in a blog, or wherever. As someone with ideas worth examination, I’d think you’d especially want to take advantage of something like Twitter.
“Twitter is no more a waste of time than blogging. It’s just another channel for spreading memes.”
Since, in this case the memes that blogging/twitter are spreading are ideas/opinions, wouldn’t it also follow that the quality of the medium, 140 words, affect the quality of the meme?
” And given people’s short attention span, it’s about the equivalent of a “hook” – if you can say enough in 140 characters to get someone’s attention, then MAYBE they’ll read the rest of what you have to say”
In my case, I don’t write to catch people’s attention, I write for people who specifically search for specific or opposing ideas (which is how I stumbled upon your blog). Of course, as I said, that is something completely particular to me. If I was trying to “hook” people, though, then I can see that use for Twitter.
In reality, my antipathy towards twitter mainly comes from my antipathy towards the do-nothing-but-pretend-otherwise-because-I-want-to-project-a-cool-version-of me mentality that “social networking” seems saturated in. Yes, that is a broad generalization and highly personal observation, but that is what I’ve encountered the most of, so…
You can say that you don’t write to spread memes, but you do. Everyone does. It’s as innate to being human as wanting to procreate. Perhaps more.
And no, the quality of the medium does not effect the quality of the meme – the viability, perhaps, yes. But in twitter’s case, the medium is incredibly powerful for the reason I said – that people have short attention spans. If Twitter serves as a device to capture more people’s attention than would a series of paragraphs, then it has made whatever memes you are trying to spread that more viable.
As for your general opinion of social networking – I think you’re being overly cynical. And that, coming from me, means you are REALLY being cynical. Social networking, for everyone, is meme spreading and in turn, a medium for personal validation. “Look at me and what I have to say – PLEASE!” Everyone wants to be important or to think that they are important to others. I won’t even pretend to be different.
It’s not as trite as “I do it because it’s popular”. On the contrary, it’s popular because everyone needs to do it – to receive validation, recognition, that is.
Um…I think you completely misunderstood my post.
“You can say that you don’t write to spread memes, but you do.”
I didn’t say this. I said I don’t write to catch people’s attention, but to write for people who come looking for the ideas I have written (whether they agree or disagree with them). Kind of like the saying “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.” I’m not interested in trying to seduce people into reading what I write with flashy and sensationalist catch-phrases. If a person has such a short attention-span that they only look at things that spit info at them every 40 nanoseconds in sense-numbing proportions and intensity, then chances are high that they will not care to spend time considering anything “deeper” than an ipod commercial (and I use the term “deeper” cautiously realizing its partly self-important/self-righteous tint).
“And no, the quality of the medium does not effect the quality of the meme – the viability, perhaps, yes.”
If a person watches only news clips of world events compared to a person who watches full video clips of events, are you saying that the medium (the information format) does not effect the meme? The idea of censorship or over-simplification and how it can warp people’s views of things comes to mind. You go on to say:
“If Twitter serves as a device to capture more people’s attention than would a series of paragraphs, then it has made whatever memes you are trying to spread that more viable.”
I’m still not sure how a person can somehow be given an equivalent meme regardless if they see 140 words or read two pages. If you are merely using the 140 words to lead them to the two pages, what differentiates the usefulness of a tweet from a simple blog title or a provocative hyperlink?
“Everyone wants to be important or to think that they are important to others. I won’t even pretend to be different.”
Again, I never said being recognized by others was something I was against. I said I was/am against projecting false impressions, blatantly so, in fact, in an attempt to be recognized. Social networking has this tendency to “exploit” this fundamental need of social interaction that humans have by making it super apparent who is looking at, writing to, or friends with who, what people have done, who they’re dating, etc. In the end it *seems* (again, my personal observation…not saying this is a fact) to become this mad race to appear to have this super interesting life 24/7 that nobody lives. In fact, most people’s live are incredibly mundane as daily chores, requirements, etc. have to be attended to. There was even a study or something showing some women becoming really depressed after becoming obsessed with social networking. Again, this is a generalization but one I have noticed in complete strangers. Also, again, I’m not saying that being recognized and valued is bad. Being recognized for nothing by others who do nothing in an attempt to feel something does not strike me as healthy.
You said:
“If you are merely using the 140 words to lead them to the two pages, what differentiates the usefulness of a tweet from a simple blog title or a provocative hyperlink”
I can’t say tweeting is more useful in itself, i.e. the 140 character format. What makes Twitter successful is the medium – that is, the website, and the technology both behind it and supporting it, namely the boatloads of applications on phones, computers, and other devices that tap into it.
According to Alexa, Twitter is currently the 12th most visited site on the entire internet – and I believe that refers only to browser access, and not all of the other third party applications I mentioned.
Aside from its viral popularity, there is also the simple technology behind it that I mentioned. For example, by using a “hashtag” (#) to associate your post with a trending topic – say I was to use the word race but write it as #race – then anyone searching for tweets on that topic are going to stumble upon my post.
Why do you think these two companies – Qwest and Best Buy – were so quick to act against negative press relayed through twitter? Because they know that the information spreads like wildfire. Corporate offices willing to undermine store managers? Incredible.
Anyway, as with any technology, what matters is how you use it. The asshole who uses nuclear technology to make weapons doesn’t diminish the good of the technology, which can be used as a clean source of power. So just because the vast majority of “tweeters” are self-important mundane douchebags (as opposed to the merely self-important like myself!) shouldn’t reflect negatively on Twitter.
“What makes Twitter successful is the medium…to associate your post with a trending topic”
What happens if your topic is not trendy and probably never will be? Furthermore, what does it say about a topic when it is trendy? Also, how do topics change when they become trendy? In the first case, Twitter is “useless” because a regular search engine becomes easily as useful, if not more so, than twitter in looking up unpopular information. In the second case, trendy topics usually are trendy in proportion to their vapidity (either in topic substance or reader/commenter integrity or both). Look no further than ‘most watched’ Youtube videos. In the last case, topics that start out non-trendy and become trendy almost always, if not always, become watered down and changed so much that their original meaning is lost. The history of hip-hop, video games, and any other niche culture/topic/hobby that becomes popular (dissemination through a pop medium) is testament to this. This is what I meant when I mentioned the quality of a medium. Twitter, though it can be useful, can also have the effect of making only certain things, ideas, attitudes, etc. visible/successful because of its design. Because regardless if you use hash tags to point to lots of unpopular stuff, if no one searches for it, then no one sees it. And people who use twitter probably–and this is just a guess–don’t use it to find intelligent discussions of race. Which all leads to my point that twitter isn’t a neutral medium. This ties into a second point where you mentioned:
“The asshole who uses nuclear technology to make weapons doesn’t diminish the good of the technology, which can be used as a clean source of power.”
Technology and the mediums they support are not neutral, depending only on how it is used. Explaining this can get long, so…I mention this in my “shop till you drop post” over on newdiction.com. That or just type into you’re favorite search engine “technology isn’t neutral”. In closing, I’m not saying Twitter is completely and utterly worthless for any and everything. But, *I* tend to find it worthless because, presently, I don’t have a use for the type of activity its use seems to engender.
Hey Godheval. Hopefully you wont mind if interject my .02. I think I stand in the “middle” although I think its safe to say both viewpoints coexist just fine.
The very nature of your post speaks to the strengths and vices of twitter…it wasnt until you used twitter that your “value” as a customer was even “recognized”, not to mention it was completely in the context of Best Buy being concerned how the perceived negativity would affect their bottom line. So essentially, you’re willing to accept their situational damage control as sterling customer service because, as you stated, we DO seek to be recognized and albeit a deragatory recognition, you got what you wanted.
And this is where I would launch into some pretentious tirade about how we continue to sacrifice our true humanity for a shallow civility. But ill simply say Twitter is a device that perpetuates sensational micro-informing, and in a culture overwrought with inchoate contexts, Twitter lends itself to trends of interpersonal disconnection. You spent your valuable time trying to articulate in PERSON why you ARE a valuable customer and not a single effort was made to reaffirm the trust BB sold you. Then you proceeded to spend a fraction of that time to abstract the essence of your situation into the twittersphere, and like magic what you say is suddently important.
The point here is that I value what you say because you said it, not because I know you have access to a medium where what you say can reflect poorly on myself. The very potency of twitter that brought BB “rushing to your aid” is the very potency you can utilize to build a reader base, because while you arent actually communicating interpersonally with anyone, “everyone is listening.”
By any promotional means, it would be difficult to argue that twitter isnt effective or at the very least a useful medium. I think the “concern” my brother will continue to harp on is its usefullness in the context of our culture given the very example of what you posted here. Regardless of whether or not anyone even cares that you actually have something to say, those 140 characters have proven a force to be reckoned with by design of the technology, not your humanity.
When corporate offices are willing to undermine store managers and immediate profit it IS incredible! I take notice because it speaks to the fact that people can take the entirety of a situation (worthy or not) and now further pare it to fit a 140 character sensational snippet that other people are willing to digest as-is. If BB is willing to bet its money on it, im inclined to as well.
By the way I think your tweets are great
@TF: Oh, I suppose I should clarify something. Where I complimented the BB employees who actually did something – that was political. It was the smile and nod. Doing your duty isn’t sterling customer service, it’s an obligation. And of course I know BB only served my interests because of the potential risk I posed to their bottom line. It was because I knew that that I started my little Twitter crusade to begin with.
@PF: Well, by “trending topic” I was referring to a Twitter term – it just means something that people are discussing, not something that’s “trendy” in the usual pop-culture sense.
Also, of course all technology isn’t neutral. The gun only really has one purpose, that being to kill, even if it were to be used in the defense of innocents. That use does not redeem the gun itself. However, I do think that in the case of Twitter – it has the potential to be a powerful and useful technology, regardless of how others are wasting it with their trivial garbage.
Another thing that comes to mind was how we got to hear a lot of the smaller voices in Iran right after that last election – voices that we otherwise would’ve never heard because the mainstream media isn’t interested, or because the state-run Iranian media suppressed it (although to their credit they didn’t shut down access to Twitter even knowing what it was being used for)…
I don’t know. I see potential in it. And I’ve found utility in it. I suppose I don’t have to convince you.
Ah, no I think your post is pretty transparent as far as it being a crusade against the nature of the situation. Also I think the Iranian protests are a good example of where the medium proved its efficacy. My theoretical stance is based more on the holistic effect such mediums have on the culture, and is somewhat related to a collaborative research study I helped conduct in college that focused on the effect of technology on interpersonal relationships. One summarized conclusion was that people felt their existence was more “valid” as an abstracted entity that has “tons” of nominal friends, while their number of “close” friends remained quite small or even dropped. By “micro-blogging” a large percentage of the focus study felt less anxiety when they “communicated” via hopeful gestures rather than through purposeful or meaningful interaction with a specific other. Now obviously thats addressing just one facet of the medium, but its the one I tend to deem most important although its far from being the most “useful.”
Now beyond how such devices holistically affect interpersonal interaction, there is certainly utility to be had concerning news, business applications, and social networking. I dont see a reason not to take advantage of what twitter offers although presently for me its just another discussion topic.
…oh and im glad you got your phone fixed! Im still sticking with my ipod touch cuz I think it feels sexier in the hand
Yeah, we’re definitely entering a different era. Or, rather, we’re already in it. People like us who were alive, old enough, and aware enough to witness the transition, might see this new pseudo-communication thing as perverse, but imagine those growing up IN it – who may never learn how to interact with real people properly.
Maybe it starts with SAYING “OMG” in real life, and [de]evolves into an acronym-vernacular. There’s always a “generation” gap, but I think this one might be huge. Aside from the possibility of a new language barrier, this whole “impersonal” aspect to the new culture is disturbing. What you say about being validated by tons of “nominal” friends is telling. Because on Facebook I only have 40 or so friends – people I actually KNOW. That is my rule. I don’t just friend people because they want to, or because I’ve met them once, or because they know someone I know, or because they like something I said. That’s a sign that I’m still anchored in the “old ways” – what I’d call “authentic”, rather than superficial.
Now, mind you, I do have two FB accounts – one for “Godheval” – who I will allow to have infinite friends (or actually, 5,001, which is FB’s limit, apparently) – but in that case FB just becomes a medium for spreading my ideas. I find all of this very fascinating. You have any literature from that study you did? I’d like to see it.
Also, on a sort of related note, check this out:
http://godheval.net/the-problem-with-adhd/