Social Media= Preventive Behavior?

In today’s society of instant information, companies are using social media to take customer’s feedback and use it to make themselves more competitive in the market place.   People are using social media as a medium to keep in contact with friends and family but they also use it to vent, celebrate, and associate.  So, people have a responsibility to interact a certain way within this medium because it’s out there for the world to see, “What happens in Vergas stays on YouTube”.  On the other side of this need to stay connected are the businesses and their need to stay connected with people, sharing a common responsibility. 

                This shared responsibility between companies and people is a very interesting relationship because it gives the individual a medium to vent and then that information is used by businesses to improve their products and services.  While I can understand how business would want to know this information in order to improve but where is the responsibility of the business to evaluate itself in order to improve?  Social media is a great tool for businesses to gain feedback in order to know what is working and what is not, but poor quality or customer service is a lack of the business not wanting to invest in themselves.  Larger companies do internal surveys with their employees, mostly once a year.  The employees at the “grass roots level” usually know what is happening with the customers and are providing the information to the business on what is working and what is not.   I think social media has now given companies an easy out by waiting for customers’ reactions and then resolving them as they occur.  I think businesses should be more proactive, listen to internal employee reviews, beta test their products and processes, and make themselves better.   I think it make good business sense to use social media to handle customer’s issues but I also think businesses should be more proactive within themselves. 

Source: socialnomics.  how social media transforms the way we line and do business

By: Erik Qualman