Trolling Twitter: Are We Getting too "Big Brother?"

by Deb Ng on February 2, 2009

twitterbird

Every day I do a Twitter search to see who is talking about the business I work for. It allows me to say what folks are saying about us, and also if there are any users or potential users having trouble with the service. If I see someone using our service for the first time or asking questions about how it works, I reach out to them to see if there’s any way I can help. I also find the users who are having a bad experience and see what I can do to difuse the situation. Most folks seem to appreciate the Twitter presence, but I heard from someone today who thought it was a little too “Big Brother” for him.

Now,  regulars to Kommein know I believe businesses should have a heavy web presence. However, the gentleman who was put off by my Twitter trollage had a good point. It is a bit off-putting to know businesses are reading and digesting our comments. Comments we don’t expect them to see.

Here’s the thing, though. The guy threw out the information on Twitter. He has several thousand followers. So if he wanted the information to be kept private, he wouldn’t have told the world, right? And really, wouldn’t you rather know a business had a person on staff monitoring the social network to fix potential issues – it’s better than not getting a response at all, right?

So I’ll ask you. Is it crossing a line for a business to have someone on staff who monitors the social networks…or is it just good customer service?

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  • http://megger1018.blogspot.com/ Meghan

    Not at all. In the years that I have been visiting online forums, whenever a situation has come up regarding a business, that for whatever reason, has gotten my goat, I am always willing to be up front about my bad experience. And I always end my rant with, “Are you listening (name of company)?”
    I’ve always looked at it in the sense that if they aren’t listening, then they don’t care. End of story. If they ARE listening, as well as jumping in to better the situation, then obviously they DO care. And when it comes down to it, most people will overlook a lot when they know the people they’re doing business with care. Over the last weeks every time I have used Twitter to vent about our California budget crisis I end it with @schwarzenegger in hopes that the Governor catches it. :-)
    In my opinion it’s FAR from big brother and is in fact the cornerstone of what customer service is today.

  • http://kristeclectic.com Krist

    I will never understand the people who post things for millions of strangers to see and then get upset when select people see them.

    I tweeted something about having a problem with Turbo Tax. One of their employees replied to me and although he couldn’t fix the problem, I thought it was awesome. They care enough to be proactive. They understand that not everyone is going to come to their forums to report problems. They’re going to go where they’re comfortable and vent. I think them going to the consumer is awesome.

  • http://notsoliteral.blogspot.com JR Moreau

    You’d be amazed at the extent of how much Twitter is monitored by corporations. I know first hand.

  • http://gregchurcher.blogspot.com greg

    You know the power an individual using the online tools can have. That’s why we have company representatives listening to the masses like never before. If they want to vent out of your line of sight they can. Go somewhere else….start a movement of your own. If your complaint is valid it’ll stand up and others with the same issue will find you and follow.

    I think it’s a special case when an individual gets surprised by someone trying to help and here’s why – some people don’t want the help but they want the be heard and cause a ruckus.

    I think this one got caught out – wasn’t expecting to be sharing with those that he complained about. He’ll be wiser next time. Now you know Deb, an approach you take with someone wanting help vs. someone that doesn’t is going to get you very different results.

    Like trying to kiss someone thats leaning away from you

  • begee

    One red flag is that the media promotes twitter and government officials supposedly use it. For all we know it could just be bots posting spam..oh! it already is that too, with the promise of millions for bloggers.

    Social Monitoring is what it is. They want to know what the masses are feeling, what you’re reacting to and how to manipulate you further.

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