By now I’m sure you’re familiar with the story of Comcast employee Frank Eliason and his Comcast Cares Twitter account.  If you’re not, essentially Frank was one of the first to use Twitter to proactively “listen” for Comcast customers in need of customer service.  You can read more about his story here.

Today I was looking for a better way to handle the comment section on my site.  I wanted to allow people to subscribe to the comment section to know if someone replied to something they said.

Until recently, I would have searched through the plugin section, or done a quick Google search to see what was popular.  Instead of either of these, I went to Twitter, so see what the “crowd” thought was the best plugin for WordPress:

Within 15 minutes I had 3 responses, all from people I trust for this type of answer:

Adam, Brian, and Deanna each suggested I take a look at Disqus as a quick, easy plugin to my existing site.  Each responded within minutes of my question with a great suggestion.

Minutes after the last Disqus suggestion rolled in, I received an offer to help from a rep of Disqus!

I was literally in the process of installing their service when I heard from them.  As it happens, though, I did have a question for them.  During the install, my existing comments went away.  I assumed there was a way to easily import old comments, but I figured I’d ask the experts for help again.  A few minutes I had my answer:

In the last week I’ve turned to Twitter and Facebook to help plan a trip to San Diego, and upgrade my website.  In each time I found great answers within minutes of asking.  This time I received input from the company as well.  The only downfall is I’ll have even less patience with call center “Steve” who’s clearly in India!

Have you had similar experiences online?  Have you asked “the crowd”?  Give it a try, things are much easier this way!

photo by Michale

This February, I’ll be attending a conference in San Diego.  It starts on a Wednesday, and runs through Saturday.  I plan on flying out on Sunday with my wife and turning it into a mini vacation.  I’ve been to LA, but never San Diego, so I thought I would research what to do.  Typically, I would Google it, or buy a travel book, or iPhone app to guide what I’ll do.  Instead, I decided to crowdsource it, and ask my friends online.  Here is a representation of their responses:

Click the image for a larger, clearer version.

I asked the question on both Twitter and Facebook.  I was a little surprised that I received much more feedback from Facebook than Twitter (10 to 1 so far).  Thanks to the simple question, I know feel comfortable knowing exactly what to do, and what to avoid!

Do you have anything different to add?  I’m not going for 3 months, so any tips would be greatly appreciated!  Please add anything you think I should do or avoid here.

I read a post this morning from Bob Bly’s blog Copywriter titled Has Social Media Transformed Your Life.  His post was in response to the book “Socialnomics” by Erik Qualman.  Specifically Erik’s claim that “social media transforms the way we live and do business”.  Bob’s issue is that he can’t think of any examples of social media transforming his life.  I can’t argue that anything has “transformed” my life.  Then again, I’m not trying to sell a book!

Bob’s post referencess the books arguement that “Are you on Facebook” is today’s “Can I have your phone number”.  He states that when he meets a business contact they exchange phone numbers and email addresses.  So do I.  The point I think he’s missing is that while some segment of the population may use Twitter or Facebook or something else to replace email, others use these tools to enhance the relationship.

For example, if I meet ten new people at a conference or networking event, the normal thing to do is exchange business cards.  For those where there isn’t an immediate business opportunity or connection, the cards usually will be filed away, added to Outlook, and thrown away.  A few weeks or months later, the connection goes cold and a potential opportunity missed.  If I can connect with them on either LinkedIn or Twitter, I can generally find some common ground or shared interest and quickly deepen the relationship.  Other times I can’t, but either way, that conclusion is reached quickly.  Either way, I know I can stay “top of mind” with these contacts for future opportunities.

To me, that is how it has transformed how I live and work.  None of the tools broadly categorized as social media have replaced things like email, or fax machines, just like email hasn’t (yet) killed the Post Office.  What it is doing, is enhancing relationships and making communication easier.

The common joke among those who don’t use these sites, is it’s just a bunch of college kids posting pictures of their breakfast.  Although that clearly isn’t the majority, it is those small details of our lives that make us who we are.  My posts on Twitter and Facebook, are not much different than on this site.  Generally I talk about my interests – the iPhone, Pens and Steelers, my family, and work.  By posting my thoughts about these and other “trivial” daily details, people get a better understanding of who I am.  At the same time, I’m learning more about others in the same way.  Email, just doesn’t offer this level of communication, especially for business contacts.  But by weekly changing my LinkedIn status to what I am working on, and less frequently on Facebook, people remember what I do for a living, and I stay “on their radar”.  How would I accomplish the same thing in a personalized way, with email?  You can’t, short of blasting the christmas card newsletter style emails.

So, has social media transformed my life?  Maybe not according to Bob’s interpretation of the word.  But if you define it as I do, it definitely has.

I’m curious to hear from you.  Do you have experiences like mine, or like Bob’s?  I don’t think that one of us is right or wrong, just that perhaps we use or think about these sites differently.  Has it transformed your life?

photo by Intersection Consulting