Tech firms slammed for one-way tweets

Pro

A report has slammed technology companies for ignoring consumer feedback on social networking sites.

Although 9 out of 10 technology companies have a social networking presence on at least two sites, most are ignoring feedback from customers, according to research by public relations company Wildfire.

Shockingly fewer than half of the brands in the study (43%) had ever responded to a single tweet on their Twitter pages.

Only one in four companies – taken from the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 list of the fastest growing technology companies – responded to comments on their Facebook pages.

“They are using social networks like a press release or old media, but it has to be a two-way dialogue,” Danny Whatmough, a consultant at Wildfire, told PC Pro.

“In some ways, not replying is worse than not having a presence at all. Firms have to monitor networks for mentions of their brands, and certainly respond when people get in touch.”

The findings suggest a lost opportunity for technology firms, which should be using the web as a way to build community interest in their wares, and as a forum for discussing issues and resolving problems.

“These companies should be using these services to let people know about updates or patches and software changes,” said Whatmough. “But more than that, if people have questions then they should be responding with helpful advice and it becomes part of customer service.”

“It’s about being transparent and consumers react well to that, but it requires a big mind shift from companies,” he said.

According to the research, Twitter was the most popular network with tech companies, with 74% of companies using the service, followed by LinkedIn with 72% and Facebook at 20%.

However, 60% of companies with a Facebook page used it purely as a distribution channel and 57% of companies with a Twitter account used it solely for one-way marketing activity.

Companies were equally slack with their blogs, the report found, with less than half even bothering at all.

Where companies did make the effort, only 25% of blogs received comments on a regular basis, which is perhaps no surprise given that a tiny 9% of companies replied to comments on posts.

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