Using social media to combat bad customer service

My twitter feed is really getting out of hand lately. For awhile, I thought it was cool that I could tweet a brand and get an issue resolved. I also enjoy being able to better connect with products and services I love. (I'm looking at you, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters!)

But, lately, I'm getting more and more frustrated by the sheer laziness I see on Twitter. For example, at my previous job at a higher education institution, I helped manage the university's Facebook presence.

I cannot count the number of students who took to the page to complain that their Wi-Fi wasn't working or that they didn't know how to pay their tuition bill or ask when their financial aid check was going to arrive. Not one of them had first thought to call the IT Help Desk, contact the cashier's office or call Financial Aid.

I can understand complaining publicly if they had first sought help at the appropriate place, and the customer service was bad. But to publicly complain without lifting a finger to try to resolve the issue themselves is just lazy.

Take the two minutes or less required, go to the company's website and find a phone number or email address. Then, if you don't get appropriate customer service, feel free to tweet or share your complaint on Facebook.

Oh! And don't forget to praise a brand for good customer service, too! Positive public compliments are few and far between.