Things have been difficult this last week, what with the funeral, getting the 16 year old back to school and catching up with work after having been out of town. The garden is choked with weeds, the house so scary that I had been debating hiring one of those emergency cleaning crews that come in after a major catastrophe. The pressure has been intense.

I worked most of the day Saturday and was engrossed in a project when my son came home. He announced that his cell phone was missing from his car. Possibly stolen; certainly gone. He relies on his cell phone to stay connected with his friends. I rely on his cell phone to know that I can reach him and that he can call for help if he ever needs it. It seemed important to go to our local Verizon store to report the phone missing and use the insurance policy to get the replacement.

I was grateful that we had insurance on the phone. I had forgotten that Verizon no longer provides replacement phones in the store. You have to report the loss to the insurance company and then wait for them to overnight the replacement—after paying $50 on top of the monthly insurance policy fees.

All of this as background to explain why I was in such a foul mood as we went to the Verizon store to report the phone missing.

At the counter, a fresh faced young man earnestly explained the situation to me. Having the insurance company handle the transaction was really for the customer’s benefit and convenience, he said. It was clear he believed every word of it. As a business woman I have my own opinion about why Verizon no longer provides this service in their local stores and it has nothing to do with convenience for the customer. There was nothing more to do but return home, without a replacement phone, and call in the loss. As we left the store, a sweet young blonde customer service representative made a mocking comment about me, sotto voce.

I turned and reentered the store and told her I had heard what she said. This would have been an ideal time for a simple apology. Instead she indicated that she was aware that I had heard her and stood her ground with an insolent grin on her face. I was really annoyed. Fabulous customer service, Verizon. Insult a customer who is already frustrated and dissatisfied.

The point of this shaggy dog story?

The story might have ended there, or with the phone call I placed to her manager when we returned home. However, I am an avid Twitter user. Still annoyed, I tweeted about the experience and used the hashtags #Verizon, #customerservice and #FAIL. My tweet was retweeted by many of my followers (for non-Twitter users this is when a text update someone sends get sent out through other networks and is how twitter updates can go viral in moments).

Tweetreach.com, a service that measures the reach Twitter users command, shows that one of my tweets was seen by 8,377 people. The exposure generated by 50 of my tweets is estimated at 151,700 impressions. So, my poor customer service experience story was shared with many, many people.

According to the blog, Socialnomics, 80% of Twitter usage is on mobile devices. People update anywhere, anytime—and all the time. Imagine what that means for bad customer experiences?

The social web has changed the way we do business. Social networking sites and communities offer customers an easy way to express dissatisfaction. As Marta Kagan so eloquently states, because of the speed in which social media enables communication, word of mouth now becomes ‘world of mouth’.

Does this mean I will cease doing business with Verizon? Probably not. No more than they will cease hiring sweet young things whose major accomplishment to date has been to show up for work on time. However, my one tweet will have registered in many minds as a negative comment against the company. Twitter updates are crawled by search engines and show up in online searches. What company in today’s economy wants to inspire negative word of mouth—especially on steroids? Verizon?

Business owners will do well to become aware of the power of the social web and train their staff accordingly—or face the consequences. And there will be consequences.

What do you think?

Scott Monty, global digital and multimedia communications manager for Ford Motor Co., Detroit, is an expert on corporate use of social media who also writes on the topic for The Social Media Marketing Blog at www.scottmonty.com. In his talk, he will review guidelines and lessons that companies of any size can use as they enter the world of social media.

Make your reservations now for the Northwest Ohio Chapter’s annual workshop:

• Friday, Sept. 4
• 8 a.m. to noon
• WGTE Public Media, 1270 S. Detroit Ave.
• $35 members | $55 non-members | $20 students

RSVP to Kari Bucher, 419-867-8792 or klbmomof4@sbcglobal.net

WGTE Public Media is generously opening its facilities to PRSA for a busy morning that will begin with coffee and refreshments starting at 8 a.m., followed by Monty’s presentation at 8:30. The remainder of the time will be spent in rotating table discussions led by local practitioners with experience using social media as a relationship-building tool. A related Webinar from PRSA will fill out the final hour of the half-day session.

About Scott Monty

Monty is a marketing and communications professional focused on the digital industry — specifically on social media. His career spans a number of industries such as healthcare, pharmaceutical, biotech, travel, automotive, tech and communications, and includes a wide range of clients from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.

At Ford, where social media is being integrated into many facets of the business, Monty provides strategic advice on all social media activities across the company, from blogger relations to marketing support, customer service to internal communications and more.

Scott received his master’s in medical science from Boston University’s School of Medicine concurrently with his MBA from BU’s Graduate School of Management. An active blogger and podcaster, Monty is known in social media circles for coining the phrase “tweetup.”

We will miss her so much.

Our family has lost three beloved family members in the past nine months. I have used social media to post about each loss and have been genuinely touched by the condolences I have received. During difficult times a kind message can make a world of difference.

Each of us makes decisions on how much of our private lives to reveal in our social media conversations. How much is pertinent? How much is too much? I was moved recently by Mari Smith’s post, “Choosing to Share My Private Journey—a Transparent Update”. It can’t have been easy to write. It only served to deepen my respect for her and her commitment to social networking and transparency.

Sharing personal information with our social media networks can help strengthen the relationships we are building. The groundswell of support I have received over the past few days is evidence of that. We are using social media to build business relationships, improve customer service, provide value, increase traffic, conduct market research, promote new ideas, connect and engage with people all over the world. At the same time, we are using social media to help one another, raise money for causes we believe in, and make each other laugh.

Recently, one of my Twittermates had a family crisis and asked for help from our local Twitter community. Her daughter was missing for several days and with the help of our Twittermates she was able to find her and bring her home. It was an amazing local demonstration of the power of social networking and of people’s desire—and ability—to help.

Sometimes the value we offer each other in social media is more than the information we share. It is the genuine caring.

Thank you for all of your support.