I Don’t Like Being Berated
We all sign up for a lot of stuff on the internet. New services, betas, forums, etc. Some of it we test out for a day or two, and never really use again. When a service starts sending out sarcastic or critical emails because you’re inactive, that’s taking things too far.
A while ago I signed up for two services at about the same time. Bloggertalk is a blog related forum service and messageboard. SocialMedian is a social news service that’s in alpha. Other commitments mean I haven’t had much chance to use either service.
Now I don’t want to user Bloggertalk
I got two emails from Bloggertalk yesterday. The first was pretty short. It took me a while to realise it was genuinely from the forum.
“What was the point of joining Bloggertalk? lol. Rose”
The second email was more detailed. It explained how anyone sensible would sign up to a forum and be an active participant. It criticised the many members registered on the forum who didn’t have a single post. Again it finished off with the accusatory question “So what did you join Bloggertalk for?”
They’ve just given away the fact that the majority of their membership is inactive. That’s not going to encourage me to get involved. More importantly they’ve acted as if I’m the one at fault. I’m a user of their service, I can choose to use it (or not) as I wish. Their attitude has just made me far less likely to get involved. I don’t think they’ve deliberately set out to offend, but their communication has come across really badly.
But I feel bad for not contributing more to SocialMedian
I’ve been busy. I haven’t been very active or used my SocialMedia alpha very much. Even though as an alpha tester I know that they’re looking for active input.
But there’s no criticism. The emails they send out are personal. They give me information about the service. They talk about the new features being developed and address issues raised by their alpha testers. The comments demonstrate genuine consideration for their users.
These updates have encouraged me to take a closer look at the service. By being courteous and appreciative, SocialMedian have got me re-engaged.
Don’t blame the customers in a competitive environment
Bloggertalk acts like they’re being punished by lazy users. That if everyone would just work hard then they’d have a great and successful service. And they’ve decided to accuse their customers about these perceived failures. They’re not trying to improve their service to encourage those users back.
SocialMedian are valuing their users. They know that the live or die by getting users and offering a great service. They also seem to realise that providing what the users want, and reacting to their comments, is going to encourage further usage. They realise that berating a limited user base is a recipe for disaster.
Bloggertalk is established, SocialMedian by their own admission didn’t start writing code for their site until February 2008. But my money is on SocialMedian for long term success and a satisfied user base.
(I’ve moved the Traffic Growth series to a Tuesday update, so that will be posted tomorrow)
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Good one, Robin. Excellent point.
Mark Dykemans last blog post..Why comment on FriendFeed instead of the blog
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:09 pm
There are so many forums and social media services that it’s simply not possible to use more than a few. I use Stumble & Sphinn, and am planning to adopt FriendFeed shortly. Any more than that is too much for me to handle.
I say well done to BloggerTalk. It’s these types of attitudes that make our process of choosing which services to use easier. I guess they haven’t heard the phrase - “The customer is always right”.
James Duthies last blog post..Cash or credibility - The ethical dilemma
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:47 am
@James - Heh, very fair point. It does make it a simpler decision as to which sites/services *not* to use.
June 8th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
First of all Robin you dropped by our forum on ” Tue Apr 15, 2008″ and dropped your link in our forums.
I replied to your introduction with the follow
“I dropped by both your blogs. I really enjoyed my visit to Fog of Eternity. Some great reviews there. So how long have you been blogging? There is this new site started by an online acquaintance of mine that you should check out. stumpedia.com - human powered social search engine” which you never acknowledge or replied to.
My first impression was that you just dropped your link and had no intentions on returning seeing how you never replied to me or my question.
Furthermore, at no time did you ask for your account to be removed and you still have not requested.
Thank you for voicing your concern about out services but it would of helped greatly if you had of voiced them to us not ranted about it in your blog where I just happened to stumble upon it.
June 8th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
I just wanted to add that it was not my intention to deliberately set out to offend you or anyone, and I apologize if my communication came across poorly. However please keep in mind that my intentional email was to encourage you to return to our forums. I realize now that it did just the opposite. I’m sorry. That is all I can say and learn from my mistakes. Thank you for pointing out. I just wish you had of come to me so that I could not just apologize to you but anyone I may have offended.
Roses last blog post..Ice Cream Facts on National Chocolate Ice Cream Day
June 8th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
sounds to me a case of “bad hair day” meets “got out of bed on the wrong side”—-a tempest in a Teapot. I suggest we all calm down and move on with our individual agenda’s—-afterall the sun is still gonna come up in th east no matter what we do.
GaryJays last blog post..AWESOME!!
June 8th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
@Rose - Frankly I have lots of dormant accounts on various social networking services. I imagine I’m far from alone in this. Your idea of following up on quiet or dormant accounts is in principle a good one, to re-engage people with the service - but even in your comments it seems like you’re looking to find fault.
Being entirely honest, if I’m not using a service then I’m not going to take the time to go and request my membership to be removed. I find it surprising that you’d even brought it up as an idea.
@Gary - Heh, calming down would suggest that I was in any sense not calm.
Thoughts on aspects of social networking, customer service, or indeed most things are generally more interesting when they are specific rather than abstract.
I was lucky enough that I had two contrasting situations occurring at the same time, which provoked an article. The article isn’t “I hate Bloggertalk” or “I love SocialMedian”. Their examples worked to demonstrate a wider issue, and so I used them to focus the article.
June 8th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Blogger Talk isn’t a social networking service. It is a Blogging Community/ Support Forum. We have many who join just to spam their link.
I’m not looking to find fault.
Your blog post is regarding an email that I sent, which you found to be sarcastic. I’m looking to improve the communication skills so this kind of thing does not happen again.
Anyhow, Good luck with your blog. :)
Roses last blog post..BloggerTalk Forums