Can Twitter replace call centers?

Twitter is being used all around the world for personal and business purposes.

PR pros have started to use it for real time and to-the-point media relations. But there are other publics that can be easily reached through this micro-blogging platform. Twitter can be also used for customer relations. From airlines to coffee shops Twitter “bonds” companies and clients.

The question is: can there be a twit center instead of a call center?


It is easy to ask a question and receive an answer via Twitter, isn’t it? Just type the 140-character question and you will receive the 140-character answer. Why bother to call when you can be “enlightened” (this word reminds of one of the greatest professors we had in college - Edu:)) for free? Some companies do have free-of-charge call centers, but there are some which have not.

Using Twitter as "call center" has advantages as well as disadvantages. The good news is clients do not have to listen to the call waiting song until an operator becomes available any longer. Things with Twitter can happen in real time and this is the beauty of it. But real time in this case means human resources. The "many" operators and clients still exist. Luckily we have Tweet Deck, which allows the same account to be handled from more computers. Moreover, lists of people followed can be made. So things can get easy: make lists based on criteria (e.g. geography, fidelity and so on), install Tweet Deck on more computers and let the twitoperators do their job.

We still have to deal with two more issues: character restrain and privacy issues. Asking a question in 140 characters is not an easy job. Nor is answering one. Being to the point might prevent the twitoperator from understanding the problem. Further information means more tweets. More tweets can be difficult to manage.

Then we have the privacy issue. For example if you call the internet provider to ask a question you will have to provide some personal data in order to prove you really are their client. Are we willing to give up our privacy?

What do you think?

Me, you and Twitter

Although I have been using Twitter for some time now I have used it also for my PR and Technology module in the last month.

I started my Twitter account for my dear friends from college in Romania and further to an online PR training I attended at work. Then I realized it is a good source to get updates on what bloggers, journalists, PR pros, colleagues and so many other do, think and write about.

Before I engaged into Twitter for school purposes I had not used Twitter Deck. Quite frankly it was hard for me to follow all the tweets. Then I installed the Deck and made my lists. This was so much easier.

During the module Twitter provided a good opportunity for me to discuss with my classmates, get inspired for my blog posts, learn about so many things, and make my posts visible. What did I mostly enjoy about Twitter? The fact that so much and very interesting information can be exchanged via it.

I did not used to send links of posts and articles I found interesting on Twitter. But I was encouraged to do so by our instructor Derek Hodge. And the “experience” was rewarding. I got re-tweets even from people I do not know, which demonstrates how fast tweets travel and the global side of this network. It was the first time I got re-tweeted:) Another thing I enjoyed was that my blog posts were sent via Twitter by followers which made them visible to various people worldwide.

All in all, Twitter opened communication doors and new horizons for me. I twitted with everybody, friends, classmates, followers etc, learned about opportunities for personal development and enjoyment, and shared information on various topics.

At the end of the road with my blog I have to say I really enjoyed blogging, I liked the online PR module and I loved to tweet. This however is not a “good-bye” but more of a “new beginning”. I am thinking to continue with the blog and twittering.

Tweet tweet!

Media relations on Twitter

To tweet or not to tweet with journos? This is the question…



People use Twitter no matter the age, profession, gender. The micro-blogging platform has brought both journalists and PR pros together, while offering the latter the opportunity to do media relations in real time. How come? Well, press releases, interviews, pitches and press conferences can be held on Twitter.


THE TWEET RELEASE

The tweet release is a short press release that only contains the lead - who, what, when, where, why.
Examples of such releases (below) were posted by Cristian Manafu, top blogger in Romania. He calls them “news in 140 characters” (I find the name quite appropriate:)):
• Microsoft organizes a series of workshops in March;
• The forum on Tourette has been lunched;
• Ericsson lunches a competition for students interested in developing applications.


THE TWINTERVIEW

A twinterview is an interview held on Twitter. The advantage of such approach is that journalists get the answers they need in real time (compared to an email interview for example). Moreover, it is time saving because journos do not have to commute to a certain venue (like in the case of face-to-face interviews). The real time issue also applies in case of the readers (followers) who read the ongoing interview.

Check out the first and the second twinterview in the UK.


THE TWITPITCH

Pitching stories on Twitter seems to be more efficient from journalists’ point of view (as Jeremy Porter wrote) because:
• It forces PR pros to go straight to the point because of the 140-character limit;
• It allows PR people to learn what a journalist is interested in writing about by following the journo on Twitter, thus eliminating “spam”.


THE TWEET CONFERENCE

Tweet conferences gather journos and company officials on Twitter and have similar advantages as twinterviewes.


I would say: TWEET. But be cautious, learn how to use Twitter, make sure you follow the right journos and send them appropriate (newsworthy, attractive etc) tweets.

You might be also interested in reading about @MicroPR :)

Interpersonal needs theory applied in social networks in Romania

There is no doubt technology has changed the way we communicate, leaving its footprint on intrapersonal, interpersonal and group communication: from diaries we got to blogs, from letters we got to emails, from telephones we got to mobiles, from meetings we got to online conferences.

Defined, interpersonal communication takes place between two individuals (called a dyad) and has a number of determinants, among which the most important are age, gender, personality, education, occupation, social class and nationality (Rosengren, 2006). Several theories have tried to explain why people engage in communication with one other. Among these there is the interpersonal needs theory, according to which people engage in interpersonal communication to fulfill needs. Schutz (1958, cited in Sammut, 2010) suggests three such needs:

• Inclusion – the need to establish identity with others;
• Control – the need to exercise leadership and prove one’s abilities (applied in group communication as well);
• Affection – the need to develop relationships with people.

Group communication takes place between more people who establish certain relationships among themselves. This type of communication is also influenced by certain variables, just like in the case of dyads.

With social networks interpersonal and group communications have moved online and the needs behind engaging into “relationships” (virtual ones) are changing.

A study conducted by Daedalus Millward Brown provides an insight on why Romanians use social networks like Twitter, Facebook and Hi5, explaining the needs behind engaging into virtual interpersonal and group communication in case of Romanian people (variable considered: nationality).

The results show Romanians use:

• Twitter for problem-solving, personal development, promoting opinions and ideas;
• Facebook for a sense of belonging, virtual entertainment;
• Hi5 for self-promotion.

I find interesting analyzing these findings and Schutz’s proposals from the perspective of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.


Whereas in Shutz’s view communication needs are more related to the love/belonging level of Maslow pyramid, in case of social networks and online communication needs are more focused on the esteem and self-actualization levels.

Given the fact that in Maslow's hierarchy needs are fulfilled on levels from bottom to top (which means people reaching esteem and self-actualization needs have already satisfied the love-related ones), we can conclude that with social networks people not only fulfill affection needs but go beyond them. Consequently, the highest peak in terms of satisfying personal needs can be reached with Twitter, Facebook and Hi5, at least in case of Romanians.

Evaluating online PR

Evaluation of the PR activity has always been an issue. In the book Effective Media Relations published by the Chartered Institute for Public Relations, Anne Gregory (2000) draws attention to the two schools of thought regarding the assessment of the public relations efforts. The first claimed the results of PR were intangible and impossible to measure. The second believed PR can be measured and looked at the number of press cuttings. A variation on the second school was to measure the cost of advertising in the media.

In the last years offline PR has been evaluated based on the following criteria, among others (Wilcox, 2009):
• measurement of advertising value equivalency - based on the size and position of an article in a media outlet
• measurement of media impressions – number of people exposed to the article and the messages given by circulation or readership
• measurement of key messages – counting how many pre-established messages were actually included in the articles
• measurement of production - total number of generated articles in a given period and the number of publications reached
• measurement of editorial slant – analyzing tone of voice: positive, neutral or negative
• event attendance – number of people attending an event

Although these are still not totally satisfactory methods they have been doing their job so far.


But PR is now moving towards online and the evaluation methods have to do the same.

Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube are the most common social media and assessment of online PR can be done for each one separately, as presented below. I underline that both quantitative and qualitative evaluation can be made for social media.

Metrics for blog (one can use Google Analytics for blog metrics):
• no of visitors
• no of unique visitors
• page views
• bounce rate
• average time spent on blog
• no of comments
• no of followers
• no of track-backs to blog

Metrics for Twitter:
• no of followers
• influence of followers
• no of company/brand/etc mentions
• no of direct messages
• attitude of tweets: positive, negative, neutral
• no of re-tweets

Metrics for Facebook fan page:
• no of fans
• no of “likes”
• no of comments
• general tone of comments: positive, negative, neutral

Metrics for YouTube channel:
• no of channel views
• no of views for individual video
• no of comments
• type of comments: positive, negative, neutral
• subscribers to channel
• ratings

Websites are also used in online PR even though I think they are not so much of a novelty. :) I will however list some metrics for websites:
• no of visitors
• no of unique visitors
• page views
• bounce rate
• average time spent on website

Besides the above metrics, PR pros can also determine some “returns” as presented by Brian Solis. He wrote about four ways to assess social media efforts:
• return on participation – measuring the time spent for engaging in social media e.g conversations
• return on involvement – evaluating touchpoints
• return on attention –seize, hold and measure attention in terms of produced responses activities
• return on trust – measuring loyalty and referrals

The online Kit Kat Jesus campaign is a great example of a high return on participation, involvement and attention. :)

Hello, everyone!

Welcome to my blog!

I am writing "Public relations under the sign of Technology" as part of the "PR and technology" module I am taking within the Master of Science in Public Relations Online at the University of Stirling.

From SMNRs to Twitter, from monitoring to strategy, from listening to sharing, this blog will be discussing issues related to technology and its influence on PR theory and practice.

Your feedback on my posts is very much welcomed and appreciated and I am looking forward to receiving your comments.

Until then enjoy the reading,
Ralu