Future of social Networking: Professional Work Place

Companies in the twenty first century are more concerned with the needs of the consumer, as the business place begins to turn to a “prosumer” (merging of the consumer and producer) market place (Fraser & Dutta, 2008). With the consumer becoming a vital part in how companies market themselves, blogging has become vital to companies all over the world, ensuring that the company is listening to the concerns of its buyers and making an effort to change. Thus, in creating a sense of loyalty towards customers, they are less likely to make their way towards an exit after voicing their concerns. Many websites such as Amazon, BlogSpot and even YouTube instil ways for consumers to learn about their product before buying them.

A past example of how social networking by using a blog has been effective in the work place was a blog written by Jeff Jarvis entitled “Dell Hell.” This blog inspired many to participate in the reviews of many products over the Internet. Jeff Jarvis’ “Dell Hell” blog was written from the perspective of a consumer who reported on his unfortunate experience with the Dell Company after purchasing a computer that was not up to par with his expectations. Jarvis’ blog about his experience with Dell’s poor customer service expanded to his theory on why Dell was doing so poorly in the economic world. Eventually, after Jarvis had deflated any type of good standing Dell had left, Michael Dell, creator of Dell, sat down with Jeff Jarvis for an interview in turn for his bad reviews and the interview was published in Business Week.

Eventually, by voicing his concerns about the product he received the poor customer service he endured during the process of “Dell Hell,” Jarvis was able to get in touch with the creator of the company and computer himself and was able to get the feedback he wanted to get. Although it might not have fixed his dissatisfaction with the computer itself completely, by Dell firstly recognizing that there was someone blogging about their incompetency’s, they were able to keep Jarvis’ loyalty as a consumer. From this experience, Dell was able to reach out to their other consumers by  creating “Direct2Dell” blog.

The following link from Doc Stoc gives a thorough explanation of the Dell Hell experience and the impact of social media in this controversy: Doc Stoc: Case Study Dell Hell

In this short YouTube clip, Richard Binhammer - Dell's social media expert explains how Dell's experience with "Dell Hell" has helped the company transform the way they use various forms of social media and connecting to its consumers.

In relation to the future of social networking, with the use of social networking sites like blogs in reviewing products by consumers themselves, companies will be able to connect to the consumers more effectively. Companies will also be able to ensure their consumers that they are actually listening and reading what they are suggesting instead of having consumers list their concerns without hearing anything back from the company at all. In the year 2020, the future of social networking will bring the consumer and the producer even closer together than it already is. Companies will depend fully on the needs of the consumer, and customer satisfaction in that way will exponentially ascend. 

Reference:  
Fraser, M., Dutta, S. (2008). Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom: How social networking will change your life, work and world.

Links:

Jeff Jarvis' Dell Hell Blogging

Business Week - Continuous comments from consumers about similar problems with Dell

Direct2Dell Blog

Written by Shelley Luc