Comments on: Being Accessible…

By: Recent Links at Fast Wonder: Online Community Consulting

Recent Links at Fast Wonder: Online Community Consulting — Sat, 30 May 2009 16:26:40 +0000

[...] Being Accessible… [...]

By: Mike Templeton

Mike Templeton — Thu, 28 May 2009 04:09:24 +0000

I like your thoughts on making yourself personally available for people to contact. On most of the websites I have set up or built, I always include some sort of contact form, thinking that it will be easier for the user to fill out then booting up an email platform.

However, thinking about it a more now, maybe that decision is not mine to make. I like how you put yourself out there and give users as many options as possible, allowing them to use the tools that are most comfortable for them. While Twitter and Facebook give us the option to message someone somewhat directly, the email address is still the holy grail connection (and often most protected).

I’ll be taking your advice and updating some of my contact methods to make sure it is easy for people to get ahold of me, using whatever method they prefer.

By: Justin Thorp

Justin Thorp — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:37:33 +0000

@Greg, thanks for posting a comment. I completely agree. I have met SOOOO many amazing folks because of social media.

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:33:01 +0000

Love the story of the computer lab, it is so true that people will approach for help if they are more comfortable with you. I find Twitter to be the great equalizer. I can @reply to a CEO or a Web Design idol or the President of the United States. Everyone with an (unlocked) account is accessible to me.

By: Justin Thorp

Justin Thorp — Sun, 24 May 2009 23:37:14 +0000

Hey Bob. Thanks for the comment! Yeah I think when you do customer service, it’s easy for people to lean to much on you and not think for themselves. I think knowing when to respond and knowing when they’ll figure it out for themselves just takes a lot of discernment.

In terms of using person means to contact someone versus a system, I don’t disagree with with your saying. I just think there needs to be a balance between efficiency and having a certain level of personal touch. For example, I filed a bug with Twitter the other day about a bug they had which was affecting us. I followed their system. I got an automated response. I don’t think anyone has read it nor will anyone read it.

Could it be an inaccurate assumption? Sure. But… due to how impersonal their system was, I had no confidence that I was going to be taken care of in reasonable amount of time.

By: Bob

Bob — Sun, 24 May 2009 22:46:06 +0000

Hm interesting article. I think it largely depends on your job and the nature of the work you do. As a software developer, I find that giving out my e-mail address can come back to bite me.

At my previous job, I was responsible for several infrastructure systems, and so it was not unusual to get paged if something was broken. Well about a year ago, while sitting in class I got a high-priority e-mail with the subject line “URGENT! NEED YOUR HELP NOW…”. I discretely left the room to start walking across campus, and finish reading the e-mail.

As it turns out, the issue wasn’t urgent and I had left class to walk halfway back to work for no reason. My client should have contacted the help desk, who would have sent a ticket to the Systems team. And if the issue needed my immediate attention, I would have been paged. These “hoops” exist to maintain order within the business.

I think for most people, the mode in which we contact support is less important than fixing whatever problem might exist. If filling out some form on your website will actually yield positive results, then I have no problem using it.