Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites have become an outlet for people to speak their minds. Whether it’s about the latest episode of American Idol, politics, or anything else, opinions fly across the Internet constantly. The Internet in general also seems to breed negative opinions. Just look at any apartment finder site; almost all the reviews are from people who had a bad experience in a complex. It seems many people only find it worthwhile to write a review when they’re not happy with the product or service provided.
In response to the increasing voice of social media, many companies have created customer service Twitter accounts. AT&T, for example, has the main account @ATTCustomerCare and also individual accounts for their Twitter representatives. When I was having trouble with U-verse, I was contacted by @ATTJenn who helped me reach a higher level of customer support. TechCrunch has recently brought up a couple of instances where social media responses by American Airlines and the Luxor hotel have been nothing more than public apologies and a push to send people to normal customer service.
Disney has a lot of social media accounts. @WaltDisneyWorld, @Disneyland, @DisneyParks, @Disney, and @DisneyPixar are among the numerous accounts run by The Walt Disney Company on Twitter. Most of these accounts, however, simply convey information. Here’s an example:
Most of these accounts never respond to mentions. They simply keep pumping out information. Isn’t the point of social media to have a conversation? Granted, many of the mentions @WaltDisneyWorld gets are probably along the lines of “Bring back Horizons!” but replying to at least some of them shows us that someone out there is reading the messages. I’d imagine someone at Disney feels responding to online criticism might make things worse instead of better. However, a response lets us know that the message has been heard by someone and perhaps will be acted upon.
There are a couple of Disney Twitter accounts that are interacting with others. The first is @DisneyPhotoPass. Most of its tweets are responses to users with questions and even just responses to people who are using PhotoPass. The second is @DisneyStorePrez, the account of Jim Fielding, the Disney Store president. He responds to many tweets and on occasion will jump in on conversations about Disney products that he runs across.
The rest of the Disney-operated Twitter accounts need to follow the example of @DisneyPhotoPass and @DisneyStorePrez. The responses and interactivity, in my opinion, are refreshing and represent how a company should interact on Twitter. Instead of sweeping the comments under the rug and collecting them for analytical purposes, give us some thoughts in return. The magic of social media lies in the conversation and Disney as a whole should give us more conversation.
This, of course, is just one man’s opinion. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter!
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