Get Satisfaction is an extremely useful tool to both consumers and companies alike. The site is user friendly (registration and account creation were simple enough) and fairly easy to navigate. Though I did note that the about tab was at the bottom of the page and would have better suited first time users by being more readily available at the top.
The website is a platform for consumers to not only air their grievances, but also to ask for help, voice concerns or make comments about a product or service. They are able to share their views with other users and get their voices heard by the companies responsible. Likewise for companies, Get Satisfaction allows them to monitor what consumers and the public are saying about their product or service. It gives them the chance to respond to comments, whether they are negative or positive. For both the consumer and the company, Get Satisfaction adds a personal touch to the conversation. Consumers feel like their opinions are not only important, but valued. Companies have the opportunity to show a more personal side and show that they care about the views of the consumer.
Take the company PBwiki for example. This company is very active on the website, with several company representatives who respond regularly to questions and comments made by consumers. In some instances they apologize for situations and in others they defend the company’s actions. Further information about the representatives can also be found on the PBwiki’s official website, lending them more credibility. One of the representatives even has a link to Twitter where one can follow what’s going on with them at the company.
Surprising to many may be the fact that while Facebook is on Get Satisfaction it is a very inactive company. There are many comments, concerns, questions and grievances being voice by the public through this site, but no evidence of responses from Facebook. I find this astounding as Facebook is one of the biggest social networks in the world and yet it has no representatives on Get Satisfaction and has left the comments made on the site, virtually unanswered.
As mentioned earlier, Get Satisfaction is a useful tool for companies and consumers, but it can also be useful in the field of public relations. It allows PR practitioners to monitor what the public is saying and provides them with a means of evaluating coverage. It also gives PR a platform in which to respond to the public and build relationships.
I was watching The View recently and I was astounded by a clip that the show produced for its audience. It was a video of a 78-year old man being hit by a car. What was so astonishing and disturbing about the video, was that for quite some time, no one came to his assistance. Passersby just continued about their business, some stopping to observe, but none actually checking to see if the man lying motionless in the middle of the street was still
Whoopi Goldberg, the show’s co-host had a theory as to why no one was immediately willing to help the poor man. She theorized that with shows today like Punk’d, people may have thought it was a prank and so to avoid being embarrassed on television, they chose not to act.
Coincidentally, I happen to be reading a book that relates to what happened in that video clip. In Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘The Tipping Point‘ the author describes an incident similar to that which occurred. He retells the story of Kitty Genovese, a young woman living in Queens, New York , who in 1964 was stabbed to death in the street with 38 of her neighbours looking on. She was attacked three times over the space of half an hour, but none of her neighbours called the police or helped her.
Gladwell discusses why people may have chosen not to act. He cites the work of Bibb Latane and John Darley, who call this lack of action the “bystander problem.” The theory that people in a group feel less responsibility to act.
“They assume that someone else will make the call, or they assume that because no one else is acting, the apparent problem…isn’t really a problem.”
In the case of Kitty Genovese, then, social psychologists like Latane and Darley argue, the lesson is not that no one called despite the fact that thirty-eight people heard her scream; it’s that no one called because thirty-eight people heard her scream.”
I think that both Goldberg’s theory and that of Latane and Darley may apply here. In today’s world of Just for Laughs: Gags, Punk’d and Candid Camera, it would come as no surprise to me that people may have been slow to react for fear of embarrassment. But it is also entirely possible that the reason no one came to the assistance of that 78-year old man was because they all thought someone else would.
As a student in Centennial College’s Corporate Communications and Public Relations program, I find that in the second semester of the program not only do I lack motivation, but I am easily distracted and dare I say, downright bored.
I’ve been dealing with this for a few weeks now and I must say, I was delighted to discover that I am not the only one suffering from this affliction. Several of my classmates have expressed the same sentiments. Why do so many of us feel this way? Well, speaking for myself I would say that part of it is that the novelty of first semester has worn off.
But there are other reasons that classmates have cited.
lighter workload (for some, depending on client project demands)
antsy to be done already and out in the workforce
focus on client projects and placements, which take precendence over other courses
the weather
These are just a few of the ideas I’ve heard floating around and I would have to say that I agree strongly with the first two points. I have too much time on my hands. I want to be working already; making my mark on the communications world, making money. Making money!
I suppose these things will all come in time and I should just be patient. But I have to admit, my patience is wearing thin.
