How To Use Twitter To Get A Company To Solve Your Problem
A reader IM'd me to say was able to get HP to fix his problem by making a new Twitter profile, hpdoesntcare, and then following every single HP-related profile he could find. Then he began tweeting every phone call he made to HP and tweeting every phone number he dialed. It worked, he said, and his final tweet was "Thanks HP. It is finally over. For real. :)".
The IM came while I was away and the direct messaging isn't enabled for his account so I couldn't follow up and find out more info, like if he @replied or direct messaged some of the profiles to get their attention. Also, he deleted all the tweets except for the final one, I suppose some sort of gracious bury-the-hatchet gesture, so we can't see the backstory.
In any event, a novel and potentially very effective tool to add to The Consumerist arsenal. Let's recap:
1. Normal attempts to contact the company and seek resolution fail
2. Make new Twitter profile.
3. Follow every person on Twitter associated with the company that you can.
4. Tweet every phone call and every phone number. Put @thenameofsomeofthecompanypeopleyouarefollowing in some of your tweets.
5. Wait for someone to get embarrassed enough to reach out.
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