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INTERACTIVE AGENCY
Social Obligations
On the drive into work today, I was listening to “This Week in Google“, one of the amazing podcasts from the TWiT network, hosted by Leo Laporte. In the most recent episode, one of the guests spoke briefly about how he felt that he could let non-direct Twitter messages and Facebook wall posts to him go without reply, but he felt obliged to respond to emails and direct messages. This got me thinking about the “Social Obligation” that I feel with various forms of communication.
In each of the mediums mentioned (and I’ll throw in SMS, blog comments, and forums), the person leaving the message is able to post directly to you — the biggest difference is that some of the messages are public and some are private. Ironically, the items that are private (direct messages in Twitter / Facebook, SMS, email) seem to be the ones that I feel most obliged to respond to, whereas it feels “ok” to leave the public comments hanging without response. I’m not sure if I think that “someone else can reply for me,” or if being public is less personal, and therefore less necessary to respond.
On the flip side, there is a particular expectation that we set whenever we send a message to someone. I may not expect Sally to thank me personally for the birthday greeting I posted on her Facebook wall, but if I post a public message to @SouthwestAir or @ComcastCares, I have an expectation to get a response.
What do you think?
- Which social obligations do you feel?
- How do you feel when you post a public or private comment to someone and they don’t respond?
- If your company or business is on Twitter, do you respond to every public or private message?
Most of my responses are determined by the nature of the person’s message to me. If they ask a question (regardless of medium), I try to answer it.
Your post got me thinking about one oddity. I actually break the ‘answer any question’ rule in Facebook. I don’t use FB’s web interface very often (using Selective Twitter to keep both in sync) and as a result, there are questions/comments that go unanswered *hangs head in shame*
From a business standpoint, I respond to every post that comes to @gpsAssassin (which I’m responsible for). I don’t manage the @centresource account, but if I did – I’d respond to every comment/mention on it as well.
I don’t really mind if people don’t respond to me unless I ask a direct question. Half the time I’d prefer them to not respond, because it can cause the infinite ‘polite’ response death spiral :)
Good food for thought
NLH
Nicholas – I totally agree with the “infinite ‘polite’ response death spiral”!
Chip – Great blog posting that really got me thinking. I started a twitter account for @NaxosMusicLib to answer customer questions/comments about our service and I tried hard to respond to everything. I have since moved on from there, but the guys who have taken it over are doing an outstanding job communicating with the audience on the company’s social networs. For Facebook – our customers have actually started answering each other’s questions which is great!
Personally though, I only feel obligated to respond to something private – aka my Facebook wall, emails and direct messages that aren’t spam. If it’s something more exposed to the wider world, I usually directly email that person, if any response is necessary.