In which I learn social media can be used for everything...

http://ohmygov.com/blogs/general_news/archive/2010/09/23/gop-widens-social-media-lead-during-summer-2010-study-finds.aspx

Source of Graph: OhMyGov!

So apparently, in addition to all the wonderful things social media can do for us in terms of procrastination, business, keeping in touch, and just generally saving us from boredom, add a new one to the list. Political Polling. We all heard about how President Obama was the first Presidential candidate to use social media, which gave him an advantage in younger markets in terms of connections, but now apparently all candidates and politicians are onboard with social media. In fact, Republicans who tend to sckew slightly older, and who may not have used social media as much in the past, have apparently been gaining and then passing the popularity of democratic candidates on the social web this summer, as indicated by the article above. What might be interesting to see is how predictive Facebook activity levels are of actual voting behavior come November...All reports seem to indicate a pretty big shift in Congress, and potentially the Senate as well...so I wonder are political scientists now using Facebook data as much as marketers are using Facebook data?

In which I learn the immediacy of Social Media

Well, my parents are both in Hawaii and I'm not, which makes me a) sad I'm not 14 and taken along on their vacations any more and b) bitter...just because.

However, they were almost not in Hawaii, and I've since learned a lesson on the power of social media that I understood on some level in theory but actually saw in practice on Saturday.

8:00 a.m. Saturday: A panicked call from my mother, in the Atlanta airport. They are traveling on a Delta buddy pass for the first time to Hawaii, a place my father (and anyone else in their right mind) has always wanted to go. The problem? The original date for their trip was pushed back, and the date reconfirmed and booked. The buddy passes to Hawaii came with additional costs adding up to $500. The trip was confirmed on Friday by a Delta agent. Suddenly, Saturday morning, when checking in hours before their flight, the news delivered by an uninterested gate agent: the buddy passes have expired. So imagine suddently, after you've looked forward to this for months, made all the preparations, paid for the hotel, and been really excited about your vacation, you're not going to Hawaii at all. And "speaking to someone higher up won't do any good," as told to them by one stellar example of customer service. As to the fact that Delta allowed the trip to be booked, the $1,000 deposit for the hotel room already paid, complete indifference.

With visions of my father having a stroke or heart attack in the Atlanta airport, or being arrested and shown on the news for shutting the airport down on September 11th (of all days to plan a flight), dancing in my head, I started frantically googling Delta customer service numbers...and calling them. After one phone call ended in a message that "the customer service office is closed" (I mean, after all, people only fly Monday through Friday 10-4)...and then winding my way through a 20 minute automated service message where I just kept saying "Operator...Operator....OPERATOR....OPERATOR NOW!!!), I think my blood pressure was nearing dangerous levels.

Then a thought occurred to me...I mean, I've sort of been harping about social media and customer service...why not actually use it? So I turned to my Old Faithful Facebook first, leaving a message of desperation on Delta's Wall (although to leave a message I actually had to "Like" Delta, which I was doing anything but at the moment). And so I waited for something to happen for a bit and then considered Twitter. I tweeted a message: @Delta: Delta is denying parents flight booked and confirmed yesterday Atl_Hawaii after taking their $500 fee...Father is near stroke. HELP! 

So, it might not have been the most eloquent plea, but in my defense I was a little shrill by this time as the time for the flight was approaching rapidly. 

I tweeted Delta at 8:41. At 8:45 (FOUR MINUTES LATER), this response: 
DeltaAssist

 

@joannapmelancon I’m sorry to hear this. Pls follow and DM me @ DeltaAssist with your details. ^JH 8:45 AM Sep 11th via CoTweet in reply to joannapmelancon 

So I did message, ^JH, and he did respond to a series of DMs and attempt to work on the problem with me, while my parents were also working through things at the airport. The tone of the DMs was a little annoyed at times, as it is not Delta policy to apparently use Twitter for "non-revenue" flying (I pointed out that as the pass had cost my parents $500 it was not non-revenue for Delta, particuarly if they chose not to honor the pass), but there was service available to me and quickly, espeically as I explained the issue was not one of policy but of employee indifference and rudeness. Eventually, the problem was solved by refunding my parents for the origial buddy pass and letting them buy another one. 

This is the moral of my story though: That putting something out publically does seem to elicit a response and some actual help which is completely new in my customer service experience with airlines (and most other people's experience...for example, United Breaks Guitars). Delta did eventually make things right, which at the end of the day, restores my affinity for Delta.

Oh, and as of 12:30 on Monday afternoon--still no response to Facebook posting, if that gives you any indication of where companies are watching out for customer complaints.

I wouldn't encourage anyone to complain for no reason, but if you've run into a customer service issue and immediate employees are not responsive to your needs, I might suggest thinking of social media outlets for help in the future.  

Oh, and my parents are in Hawaii looking at Diamond Head and the Pacific as I type this...which brings me back to the beginning of the post and my bitterness that I'm not.