To tweet or not to tweet: That’s NOT the question

Here we are again. A new technology is taking over and the world as we know it is coming to an end. The advent of this latest and greatest technology allows individuals to broadcast short messages of up to 140 characters anytime, anywhere. With this newfound ability, some pundits are proclaiming that customer relationships as we know them are over. I should confess that I’m a bit tired of such proclamations and punditry, particularly when it is all too apparent that people are simply glorifying a new means to an end, rather than the end itself.

There is little doubt that web 2.0 is exciting. Companies of all types can communicate and interact with customers and prospects at speeds previously thought to be impossible. However, when a 20 employee outfit known as Twitter is unable to establish a business model and clearly articulate its customer experience capabilities, it is logical to surmise that well established brands will not jump head first into the Twitter and social media deep-end.

This is not to say that effective usage of social media won’t have positive benefits for company-customer relationships. However, given historical trends, what remains unclear is the extent to which the use of such social media will influence the customer experience. Once upon a time when direct marketing exploded, many experts proclaimed an end to or at least the drastic diminishment of the retail channel. With the emergence of email and web chat, many expected the end to call centers. Too many analysts predicted that speech technology would replace traditional interactive voice response (IVR) units. However, as we all know while direct marketing, email, web chat and speech technology have grown in importance, the retail channel, call centers and traditional IVRs remain alive, well and a critical component in the customer experience.

A recent YouTube video of two Domino’s Pizza employees committing dubious actions has been subject to much debate. In the television segment on this episode, a reporter quoted a Web 2.0 expert who clearly stated that the company shares some blame as “it is Domino’s Pizza’s negligence for not having a Twitter strategy.” While I am no doubt aging myself here, I distinctly remember thinking that I had never heard of a Twitter strategy and couldn’t fathom how opening a Twitter account represented a meaningful strategy of any kind.

I don’t dispute the fact that companies in virtually every industry have accounts through various social media with thousands of 'friends' and 'fans'. However, what many of these companies are slowly recognising is that social media simply reflects a new (perhaps more personal) communication medium. So now, instead of or in addition to websites, newsletters, direct mail, email and web chat, companies have Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter. The proliferation of social media doesn’t reflect a strategy as much as it reflects adoption of additional communication tools. Companies still require resources, personnel and actual strategies for managing and incorporating such media into their customer and communication strategies.