Two weeks ago I posted this Tweet: (IMO reasonable and un-vitriolic feedback)

“@MayorGregor @KenHardie the CAN Line bike bridge is Gr8! But, the Van side E, W, & N approaches are hellish. I predict accident, pls fix”

No response to date. These two Vancouver based accounts get loads of customer feedback since one is the Mayor’s personal twitter account while @KenHardie belongs to a senior executive at our area transit authority. And these guys DO answer some of the feedback such as these tweet responses:

“@eco_smart_guy thanks for heads up, city staff is now aware and will clean up asap”

OR

“@brlamb — Please keep in mind that T/L is drawing down reserves just to keep what you have now. No money tree in the back yard!”

But to my eye, their accounts are (rightly so) personal/business/commentary Twitter accounts that are being used partially for customer feedback but aren’t necessarily designated as such. It’s like being half-pregnant. If you or your organization are going to use Twitter for customer feedback, then USE IT.

Designate an account, refer complaints to that account and manage it as best as possible. It doesn’t mean you wouldn’t ever respond to feedback but at least the right feedback would filter to managers who could actually do something about it. Much has been written about @Ask_WellsFargo because it is an amazing example of a real-time managed twitter account where the Wells Fargo bank people tell you who’s on shift and answering questions. Cool!