A few months ago, I was posting on Twitter (like just about everyone else on the site) about what I was doing--which at that moment, was trying to purge some spammy comments from several of the networks I belong to on the social networking portal, Ning.com. I posted an update something like "[what is] up with spam on the Ning pages? Anyone else seeing this? #ning". Within an hour, I received a DM (direct message) from a representative at Ning asking me to email her details about the spam, with a promise that she would look into it. It was the first time that social networking had introduced me to a new type of "customer service", one that was at first a little creepy (after all, I didn't actually seek resolution from anyone at Ning directly), but ultimately refreshing: companies and businesses ARE listening to their consumers.
Chris Brogan, a consultant who (according to his blog) advises "businesses, organizations, and individuals on how to use social media and social networks to build relationships and deliver value" (Brogan 2009) writes very eloquently (and prolifically) about how businesses need to "grow bigger ears" and "start by listening". It should come as no surprise, then, that many of the more progressive (and successful) corporations such as Starbucks, JetBlue, and Dell have been using
Twitter to reach out to their consumers for some time now (Twitter Brand Index 2008).
While business is just now "getting" the power of social media, it still boggles my mind how so many teachers, administrators and other stakeholders in the educational community are terrified of it. I'm still trying to figure out why...
Well, we certainly wouldn't want school to be too much like the business world, would we? :)
Brogan, C. (2008, November 22). If I Started Today [Web log post]. Retrieved September 19, 2009, from http://www.chrisbrogan.com/if-i-started-today/
Twitter Brand Index. (2008, August 08). Retrieved September 19, 2009, from http://blog.fluentsimplicity.com/twitter-brand-index/
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