Hey Apple, customer service 101…think before you speak

First of all, I’m sorry for the lack of attention I’ve been paying to my blog. Here I was thinking I was going to be unemployed for the first time since I was 16 and two days prior to my last day at Hamilton, I was offered two babysitting jobs. Needless to say, I’ve been overwhelmed and busy this past week. Since my mom knows that I have an interest in social media and media relations, she sent me two articles.

The first article relates to Apple. I found the article here http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-apples-steve-jobs-gets-in-a-pissing-contest-with-college-girl/ but it can probably be found elsewhere. The main concept of this article is that Chelsea Issacs, a senior journalism major at Long Island University, was doing a project on the use of Apple’s iPad in an academic setting. Issacs needed more answers from the company’s media relations team but received no response after several attempts of contacting them. Finally, she took it upon herself to contact Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple.

Issacs was polite in her first email to Jobs. She explained that she was doing a project and had attempted to get in touch with the media relations department but received no response. She said that though she often receives great service from Apple, it’s ironic that nobody was answering her and that the answers are essential to her academic performance. Jobs, who often responds to personal emails, replied with, “Our goals do not include helping you get a good grade. Sorry.”  The conversation continued and ended when Jobs said, “Please leave us alone.”

Now, as CEO of an extremely successful company, I think Jobs should have handled this better. Maybe Issacs was somewhat annoying, but chances are she’s a paying customer. Regardless, I’ve been taught in every customer service job that the customer is always right. So why would you be so rude to someone who has most likely made your company more profitable?  And on second thought, isn’t that what a marketing/PR team is for? Apple is reputable and rich…there has to be someone at their headquarters who handles customer queries and can answer a few simple questions to help someone with a project ON THEIR COMPANY. Just because you’re rich and famous doesn’t give you an excuse to treat someone poorly, especially someone who would’ve most likely written nice things about you.

Unfortunately, Jobs messed with the wrong person (and a journalism major). This story has now made it to Good Morning America and is getting more and more attention each day. Do you think Jobs was right or wrong in his response? How could he have handled it better? Also, I’m going to talk about the second article my mom sent me in a different post. But let me know your thoughts!

Social Media in a World of Stalking

http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/student_affairs_and_technology/career_services_and_social_media

When I entered Marist College four years ago, I never would have predicted that I’d be required to have accounts with social media websites such as Twitter, Faecbook and LinkedIn.  Who could have fathomed being TOLD to sign onto Twitter at the beginning of class? I doubt most people would have predicted just how popular and important a role social media would be playing in our society, country and world in 2010. The truth is, social media has changed dramatically in the past four years.

In two of my internships, I was told to use Twitter and Facebook as a means of reaching a broader audience. In classes that I took such as Organizational Writing, we discussed what can be accomplished through communicating via social networking sites. Companies, people, artists, etc. are able to reach a major audience through marketing online. This emphasis on social media leads me to question what marketing, advertising, PR, etc. are going to be like in the future.

Another trend I’ve been noticing lately is the importance of social media when it comes to applying for jobs (depending on your field). I for one can vouch that throughout my job search, I’ve been seeing a major emphasis on being computer-savvy and also educated in websites such as Twitter and Facebook.  It is encouraged to “Like” and “Follow” companies that you are interested in working for. So many job listings for companies discuss using these sites to expand their presence in the online community.

And speaking of social media, Facebook just reached 500 million users. As in half a billion people in the world have Facebook. The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, was interviewed by Diane Sawyer. The interview was kind of annoying because Sawyer kept interrupting Zuckerberg, but a lot of topics were covered. One of the most important issues with Facebook is privacy. Do you think Facebook is getting too personal? Half a billion people are now able to stalk more efficiently now… what do you think?