When Social Media Just Isn't Enough

My girlfriend has recently been having problems with Vodafone.

She upgraded her contract with them to an iPhone 3gS and has since had no end of troubles trying to get any signal/cellular network.

The obvious outlet for her frustration was via her Twitter feed, where her tweets were picked up by @VodafoneUK who replied to her straight away offering help by means of an email.  The email led to a reply stating they could not help her and she would need to phone.

Fast forward to today where in total there have been 9 phone calls, 1 store visit, 2 new sim cards...and still no working phone.

But every time she or I tweet about Vodafone, we receive a reply saying "Sorry to hear you're still having problems, drop us an email or contact us via the eForum".


It must be frustrating working the Twitter account for Vodafone because they seem keen to help, but they're being let down by the Customer Service call centres...there's nothing else someone on Twitter can do, they have to rely on the one-on-one contact of a phone call or store visit.

Monitoring Twitter for mentions is a fantastic Customer Service aid and really helps customers feel they are being listened to, but make sure the rest of the Customer Service department can match it for use

Rant over.

Who's Turning The Apple Rumour Mill?

I can't believe it.  It's the 19th January and I still haven't updated the blog this year.  It's a disgrace, and I need to make it right.  So here goes....

Apple.  Probably the most respected, most blogged, tweeted and talked about company going.  Everyday there is a new rumour about one of their products.  Whether it's the iPhone 4.0 or the iTablet/iSlate, everywhere you look there are rumours surrounding Apple.

I just can't work out where the rumours comes from.  We all know that car manufacturers leak images of upcoming vehicles or accidentally happen to tell car photographers where they might be testing the new heavily disguised bland-mobile, but is this what happens in the technology world as well?

I'm sure there is some truth to the rumours about new Apple products, but when Apple haven't even confirmed there's definitely going to be a Tablet-like product, where are the rumours coming from?  Where do videos like this iTablet Video come from?!


It would be naive to think that Apple's PR department doesn't have some sort of hand on the stirring spoon, but I believe there's more to be found out by looking at the overall branding.

Apple = passionate people


That's what the brand breathes. The customers know Apple put their all into their products, so they like to give their all back.  The high level of technology, classy simple design and ease of use mean that the Apple brand stands for everything that techy, classy and designer people want.  Therefore the public get excited about new product launches.  Obviously it's the people that want Apple products who are blogging, tweeting etc, and Apple appear to have realised this and seem to release small bits of information into the public domain, sit back and watch their customers do all their PR work for them, as it explodes into a full news story.

So Apple's success appears to balance between clever, guarded branding mixed with passionate and knowledgeable customers who want the newest technology now.

Clever, especially compared to their competition....By the way, how did your Windows 7 launch party go down? FAIL