We are all relatively new to services such as Twitter and many users and brands are still finding their feet so although i have a complaint here it is not one that i feel that I can make with too much vigour.
My issue is that some of the services that i use are forcing me to place my customer service related queries into the public domain on Twitter. There are a few issues with this. The companies that I have found doing this are Hootsuite and Twellow. Both excellent companies who are providing great services.
I had an issue with adding a Linkedin feed to my Hootsuite account and as there was no answer in the help section (which is still pretty sparse due to the relative youth of the company) I was given the other option of posting my issue on Twitter to their hootsuite_help@Twitter account. Of course, as they are not following me I could not direct message (DM) them so I had to air my dirty laundry in front of all of my Twitter followers and anyone else that stumbled upon my account through tweeting them publicly.
I have no issue with being open and transparent but this adds no value to my Twitter followers and fills up Twitter with unnecessary and irrelevant content for the majority of viewers. Of course it gives Hootsuite great visibility. And when they have thousands of customers doing this, and assuming they handle the queries well and show how effective their product is in their responses then they will surely pick up more customers as they will be gaining visibility through my followers, who are in many cases similar to me in their professional clothes and relevant to the Hootsuite service.
So, great marketing idea from Hootsuite? No, not if it pisses off their paying customers like me.
Similar story with Twellow; I have had ridiculous issues with signing up and logging in to a few different twitter accounts on their platform; it just does not seem to handle cookies well. Anyway, again I had to do my business in the public eye in the name of free publicity for Twellow. One could argue that it makes sense that they use the Twitter platform being a Twitter Yellow Pages, but again, if it does not suit their customers then they should not be doing it.
Not sure if I am the only one feeling this but I often find myself being less sensitive than most to making myself look stupid, in fact I am quite talented at it. Would be great to hear how others feel?
