Comcast's Twitter Man

(page 2 of 3)

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Frank hits Twitter's "Direct Message" button, which allows PrinceValiant and Frank to communicate privately via e-mail, and Frank asks for his phone number.

A few seconds later, PrinceValiant responds with his number. With a Comcast user interface called Grand Slam, Eliason can enter the phone number to check whether PrinceValiant's modem is functioning, But before the exploration begins, PrinceValiant tweets that his service is working again. Happy ending, so we move on.

2:35 p.m. No response from LanaTurner898 despite Frank's offer of help. "Sometimes because of the publicity we've had, they're testing to see if they get a response," he says. "The complaint isn't exactly true."

2:40 p.m. Frank lets me sit in his chair and man the Twitter board. A bit of hostility pops up from DonDenson, a young white male whose picture shows just a pert nose and blue eyes: "Comcast in Houston sucks. No service for 48 days due to Ike. Entitled to 48 days credit plus $153 bill paid during outage. Incompetent accounting can fix billing."

"Type 'We try' and then put an exclamation point or a smiley after it," Frank instructs me. I opt for the exclamation point.

Instant Gratification

In less than a minute, DonDenson sends another message: "You are quick—and nice response." Well, that didn't take much. Frank tells me he will investigate DonDenson's complaint about billing later. I can see what he means about Twitter's immediacy. Instead of having to wait on the phone—while growing madder and madder—DonDenson got the instant gratification of a tweet acknowledging his concerns.

2:45 p.m. There's an angry message from SelenaRamsey, a woman with precision-bobbed brown hair like Posh Spice's. Within her picture is a smaller picture of Frank, so it looks like Picture in Picture on TV. "That means she's writing directly to me," Frank explains. The message is still public, for anyone to see, but the little picture of Frank alerts him to the fact that she's specifically soliciting a response from him.

It's not unusual for customers to address Frank or his team members by name. "Originally when I started to do this, I used the Comcast symbol instead of my picture," says Frank. "Then I listened to some customer feedback, and one was: 'Where's your picture?' Now when they think Comcast, they think Frank. Right now I have 5,700 followers. They know about my family Web site. It gives a face to Comcast." Frank's other Twitter team members go by the names ComcastBill and ComcastGeorge.

Back to the wrath of SelenaRamsey: "I would suggest you tell the people in charge of the money to do their jobs." A moment later, she is compelled to tweet again: "P.S. If my credit score is negative, it is your fault for not paying enough attention or not calling off your dogs."

Frank tells me to write back and simply thank her for her suggestion, with a period at the end. "I wouldn't do a smiley face when we're doing a collections issue," he says.

Trail of Tweets

Next, he goes back on Twitter and searches for "SelenaRamsey" to trace her tweet trail for the past few days—unlike Instant Messages, tweets stay in the system forever—and resolves Selena's problem. (Over the next two days, she will write two tweets thanking ComcastCares for clearing up the problem with the collection agency.)

2:50 p.m. Strong words from Technophile: "We have the Comcast service guy out, and he tries to charge us for new cable, leaves, and now not only is cable out but the Internet."

A moment later comes another note from Technophile (since Tweets are limited to 140 characters, sometimes people need more than one to tell the whole story). "And the phone is out too. This means my wife can't work from home, which means lost income."

Frank remembers the name Technophile and that he gave his phone number in a tweet the day before.