There’s a lot of talk (and type) about how “social media is the new customer service”. Let’s consider that for a moment.

In the same way many people use the term “media” incorrectly as a singular, there may be as many or more people mistaken about what constitutes a “social medium”. Buzzwords and grammatical errors aside, all media are inherently social. Calling anything a “social medium” is redundant. (There is no such thing as an anti-social medium!)

Man invented media because he needed them to help us socialize and spread culture beyond the confines of vocalization and gestures. From cave-paintings and hieroglyphics to the alphabet and printing press; from the telephone and fax machine to VOIP and SMS, media are invented, optimized and improved upon to serve the spread of our culture. Interactive or "social" media allow better fidelity and more immediacy – which are huge improvements over more primitive media, but still serve the same basic purpose when it comes to customer service.

Merchants needed ways to learn what satisfied or dissatisfied their customers, and couldn’t always ask in person at the point of purchase. Customer service has always depended on “social” media to achieve its purpose. But it’s not a medium, it’s an experience. That said, I think the intention of the quote was more like: there are many new means to achieve better customer service, and many of those are proving to be digital media. It’s no secret that our culture has gradually shifted from mass-media to media-of-the-masses. Read just one page of Consumerist and it’s clear that customers aren’t experiencing better service solely because of interactive media. Customer service representatives don’t magically become more sociable just because they have new technology at their disposal. It's not the medium, but you use it that matters.

Buzzwords have the tendency to obscure more meaning than they grant. “Social” media are not replacing customer service, but they are opportunities to improve it. The right media for a given company depends on the type of transaction or service provided. For example, when I had an issue with the repair warranty on a home computer, I called an 800 number and spoke to a customer service representative directly. A website’s FAQs or company Facebook profile is useless if my computer is broken. Once my computer was fixed by a repairman who came to my home, I got a follow-up call to make sure I was happy, and an email summary of the repair. That was the single best customer service experience I’ve ever had.

Likewise, if I can’t find a store in a mall, I’ll check the directory map near the entrance. If I’m at the pub with friends and I have a random question I want answered before our next round arrives, I’ll call or text chacha.com (thanks for the tip, Liz). Customer service is about being there and being useful, wherever and whenever it is that your customers are in need.

This BusinessWeek article, How Companies Use Twitter to Bolster Their Brands, made me think. At first, I didn't get much further than the subtitle:

The “creepy trend” part is slightly confusing. What’s so creepy about attentive customer service? Monitoring Twitter feeds that mention your brand is one thing, and a no-brainer at that. Like any social network, online or offline, this is an environment in which brands are expected to be sociable. Tweeting back to the offended party might be a more appropriate response than no response at all.

Sure, the potential is there for brand voices to come off as creepy, awkward or forced when venturing into emerging social situations such as Twitter feeds – but brand voices face the same challenge in every medium. The anxiety expressed by the BusinessWeek article reflects the hesitation many marketers have for social networks like Twitter.

There are good reasons for that hesitation. Twitter is new, and therefore a little scary for some. Like blogs and other social networks, it demands dedicated resources. Twitter is unreliable, now notorious for repeated outages and network down time. Twitter is instantly public – whatever you do is out there for everyone to see, right away. Sounds intimidating.

There are good reasons to be brave, too, because it’s pretty cool when it works well. GM used Twitter in an attempt to help a ready-to-buy customer at a Saturn dealership who couldn’t find a salesman. Jet Blue uses Twitter to monitor customers in need of information on flight delays or cancellations. Brands like Dell, Comcast, and Whole Foods recognize the Twitter user as an “influencer” of a target audience, and pay attention accordingly. The potential for evolving customer service is huge. The immediacy can work to a brand's advantage, enabling real-time responses that reach a consumer wherever he or she may be. This is a new means for brands to prove their usefulness to consumers, but it's probably not for everyone.

Still, what’s so creepy about it? The article points out that “not all Tweeters want Corporate America following their Tweets” -- yet they continue to post Tweets for everyone to read! That’s a conflicting message, but it’s also a defense mechanism. These influencers are still getting used to the personal transparency that, in many ways, resembles the same transparency consumers want from their favorite brands. Transparency can be a scary thing, because there's no hiding once you have it. Right now, these conflicting messages keep corporations guessing about how best to socialize their brands.

Personally, I’m fascinated that people who willingly and publicly broadcast their lives, 140 characters at a time, are so surprised to learn that the likes of Jet Blue or Zappos are reading Twitter feeds. Because, really, which is creepier: microblogging your every move for the entire world to read, or responding to a single post that implicates your brand or business by name?

Adobe is showcasing our Lowe's Welcome Back Spring Site as the Site Of The Day today.  It is wonderful to continue to receive industry recognition for the hard work we do on behalf of our clients. The Sunnyville campaign was also featured on FWA as a Site Of The Day on April 23. We look forward to more exposure of the site.

While awards aren't our ultimate goal, they do give us the opportunity to be seen and appreciated. It helps us attract great talent and attract clients interested in making an impact in the marketplace.  Congratulations to the entire Lowe's team, our Firstborn Multimedia partners, and our clients for the dedication, passion and smarts.