Comments on: Are You Listening or Just Hearing Me?

By: Lucretia (GeekMommy) Pruitt

Lucretia (GeekMommy) Pruitt — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:18:02 +0000

Don't get me wrong – I know that both blame and credit go up and down the chain.
But the 3 who have been stepping up to the plate to provide the transparency are the ones I named.
Those guys are great, but I was reading a post by Jeremy White at B5 the other day about founderitis and all I kept thinking about was – yep, that's the point at which they don't trust someone else to do it for them, and therefore suffer.

By: GeekMommy

GeekMommy — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 06:18:02 +0000

By: Michael Koenig

Michael Koenig — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:58:22 +0000

Thanks for the blog love Micah, we really appreciate it. You gave us excellent feedback on how to improve our Twitter integration and we were happy to implement it. I've got to say, now it's an awesome feature!

IntenseDebate is for bloggers and commenters. We'd have to be crazy not to listen to their feedback. It's a lot easier than guessing what they want, so keep the feedback coming!

Thanks again,
Michael

By: I Own My Data, Dammit

I Own My Data, Dammit — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:08:00 +0000

[...] had a very encouraging article last night about two commenting social networks, Disqus and Intense Debate. It was all about [...]

By: calebelston

calebelston — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:42:47 +0000

Being there for your users is the most important thing you can do. We all have limited resources. We all have downtime. We all have bugs we need to fix. We all more to do. So one of the best things you can do is actually listen and participate. Being quick to respond and iterate is a true differentiator. Love your users.

By: micah

micah — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:53:05 +0000

I think there is a belief that there is a "right way" and "wrong way"
to do things. I do think Twitter has heard its community and the
communities desire to be heard. I also know that they are probably
busting their asses to get everything to work.

What most people fail to remember is that Ev, Biz and Jack are not the
only three people working there. There are 16 or so (last I heard) and
many of those have poured their hearts and souls into the product.

I get frustrated when people assume that the CEO/Founder is the one
that is the cause of all problems and the fixer of all problems, and
are really tough on them without regard to the "rank and file"
employees.

By: Ari Newman

Ari Newman — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:26:00 +0000

Daniel, great point about the focus groups. Its great to see more and more businesses starting to pay attention and engage in the various communities/mediums that are out there now.

Being able to take the feedback in and do something about it quickly is essential. I hope larger businesses figure out how to move quickly also. T

By: GeekMommy

GeekMommy — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 05:49:41 +0000

I can't really comment on the other companies – but I really wish you hadn't written “Even Twitter finally realized the error of their ways.”
For a company that's supposedly “listening” they don't seem to be hearing the dozens of people calling for them to get a freaking Community Evangelist/Manager – or at least someone who is better at dealing with the community than Ev, Biz, or Jack.
I appreciate that they're trying – but at some point? Figure out that it's not your strong suit and hire someone whose strong suit it *is*.

By: jyoseph

jyoseph — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 05:38:53 +0000

Daniel does listen, I had a similar experience with him where he responded personally to an email I wrote concerning a feature request.

I'm using disqus on my site right now and love it. I would highly recommend it, if not for the ease of use (copy & paste, voila) then do it for the reasons Micah mentioned above.

Great post. My dad yelled at me the exact same way so I feel you.

By: Daniel Ha

Daniel Ha — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:53:08 +0000

Everyone knows how it feels to reach out to a service and get a canned response. It sucks. I think smaller companies can dramatically differentiate themselves by staying personally involved.

Even larger companies are doing this. And it works wonders. The best part is that it's not some marketing gimmick — we just improve so much from others' feedback. Free focus groups to tap into. :)