Companies and Social Media

This is exactly how I feel companies think about their current involvement with "social networks".

People associate "social networks" with creating community and "friends" = "caring"  Just because a company has Facebook and Twitter accounts doesn't mean they care  There are tons of companies that have accounts with social network sites, but they do it badly.  However there are good companies, and some are trying quite hard to do better.

I think Lenovo's very open Facebook approach is going to score big points.  What's unique about them is that they have a forum on their Facebook page, which means that anyone can post and share info.

Lenovo Forums - http://www.facebook.com/#!/lenovo?v=app_145055678851002&ref=ts

Here's my take on Lenovo's open forum method:
Since they are open this lets any existing customers post about their problems.
- This is good because now their customers feel like the company is listening, and they might get a right answer.
-  This is also good because it allows people who know the solutions to give answers - good for the company since there's less need of paid employees.
- Bad because moderators are paid people and they care about getting paid more than answering every problem.  So... lots of people's questions and problems won't be answered.  Maybe Lenovo gets Zappos or Gary Vaynerchuck style moderators that genuinely care and this can be a tremendously GOOD thing.

Twitter is just a pile of spam and to me it's nothing more than hype.  Any search for any product will give you commercial links and not information from people.  For companies I think it's far more important to score good points by creating a positive view of their products and give customers a good experience.  Obviously answering emails and phone calls can be a big problem, the bigger the company the bigger the mess.

I have my own way of trying to solve problems, but that's for another post.  Enjoy the video below!

Some stress relief videos:
http://www.thewebsiteisdown.com/

Yes... I understand that every post that I create removes me from future job possibilities.  But I prefer to be fairly transparent.