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Along the same lines of the DARPA example posted earlier, AT&T is using crowdsourcing to identify potential network problems. Basically, users can report a dropped call or data failure on their iPhone, and the error is sent along with the user's location to AT&T network operations.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/08/cnet.iphone.att.dropped.calls/index.html#cnnSTCText
This is an interesting way for AT&T to respond to some of the negative hits their brand's been getting due to poor quality. It gives the consumer the feeling that they can do something about a problem that used to be out of their control (although it remains to be seen whether AT&T actually takes any action or if it's a glorified complaint drop box or part of a way to counter Verizon's network claims). Assuming that AT&T does do something with the reports it gets, each user is now in a way an AT&T network monitoring technician, and AT&T gets free information about network performance that it could only otherwise get if it had a network scanning vehicle on every street corner.
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Brilliant - it's like asking PG&E customers to turn on their lights if they experience a power outtage so the PG&E crews can find them! ha!
All kidding aside, this is a great idea. Instead of customers complaining to a nameless (and vast) community (ie., Tweeting) they can complain directly to the people who can fix the problem. I'm guessing this has has several benefits aside from getting the cell towers fixed. They are:
1) A more sastifiying customer experience - being heard immediately always makes one feel better.
2) A more loyal group of customers - some (not all, of course) customers may relish the feeling of recognition they get when they report a problem. That feeling of finding something and being called out for finding it play to some of our deepest "Kilroy was Here!" desires - the need to be noticed. So, if a failure in the network can increase one's reputation, guess what? That customer is suddenly more loyal than he/she was before. Funny how something that's initially an annoyance can turn into something of a rewarding experience.
Because social networks play to the heart of the human experience, traditional logic sometimes breaks down when trying to predict how events will be perceived (ie., bad event = disgruntled customers).
Here's an example of how traditional logic just doesn't explain something that occurs on a social network (in this case the traditional logic is "want money = work hard"). There's a site out there called Model Mayhem (don't try accessing - it's blocked at work). Anyway, it's a site for models and photographers to find each other to get work done. When you do access it you'll notice there are commercial-grade photographers on there (these folks get paid $20K - $50K/shoot) doing lots and lots of free work. Why? Simply because they like the recognition they get from the other models and photographers on there. Yep, really. In fact, the other day my photographer friend Jerry Avenaim (yeah, look him up..he's HUGE) called me asking me to post a comment on a recent photo shoot he did for free. A comment! So here we have professionals doing lots of extraordinary work, all for free, and only for online reputation. "Want money = work hard" is no longer a true axiom on this social network.
So in sum; social networks can change the way we traditionally look at cause and effects. By harnessing and understanding this change we have the potential to tap into the human experience. Who knows where this would lead our brands.
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Excellent points, Greg. You see similar things in the open source community where volunteers will contribute their software fixes and changes not for monetary reward (usually) but for increased respect in the community.
So how do we bring this to the Clorox community? I think your system of recognizing people's level of contribution with ribbons is a good start. One site I frequent called FourSquare awards badges for a wide variety of random things--I got the "oversharing" badge the other day for making 12 updates in a day--and you earn points for "checking in" at places. If you check in to a place the most number of times, you become the mayor. (I'm mayor at my two favorite bars.) What are these points, badges, and mayorships good for? Absolutely nothing besides bragging rights.
Perhaps we start awarding badges for things like "highest rated reviews" or "most interesting review". Also, one thing intriguing about FourSquare is that the leaderboard resets every week, thus ensuring that everyone starts with a clean slate. Otherwise, you run into an issue where newcomers feel that the rest of the crowd is so far ahead that they could never keep up. (Seriously, at this point, who's ever going to best Greg in number of points?!?)
(An aside: Perhaps the "want money=work hard" paradox actually makes sense if you abstract it up a layer and replace money with respect. In most capitalist cultures, your level of respect is related to how much money you have. Thus, money has been a proxy for the level of respect you're owed. In social networks, you now have a new proxy for respect--number of positive reviews, badges, etc.--so the old money-based system is less important.)
p.s. You're right. AT&T hasn't quite figured out how to cache the report when there's a data failure. There's no "try again later" option, much like your PG&E example :)
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Hey Han, those are some interesting ideas. I really like the concept of resetting the leader board every week. That's very unique and can assist in tapping into that competitive spirit. I'd love to hear other's points of view on this concept (too bad it's the holidays and no one's around!).
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We should get badges for "Holiday Dedication". Check out FourSquare sometime. http://foursquare.com/ The Droid/iPhone/Blackberry app makes it as easy as opening the app and pressing a button to checkin. Simple, pointless, but addictive.
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I like the idea of being able to report problems directly to the manufacturer or company so they can monitor problems instead of complaining about it anonymously. However, these remind me of when Windows crashes and a pop-up window asks if you wish to send an Error Report to Microsoft, which I'm sure doesn't really have much of an impact. As long as companies are responsive to consumer complaints, then it is useful.
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I agree that it's only useful if the data is being used by the company. However, the company may be using the data without any outward signs. For example, I report on plant quality for Kingsford, and a really helpful tool is the consumer complaint data that we get. Due to the nature of the charcoal usage, there isn't a 1:1 relationship on complaints vs quality, but it's an additional tool in our arsenal for troubleshooting.
Quick plug: if you ever have problems with a product, call the complaint line because the company does need to know if there's an issue. Besides, people complain about everything under the sun, so it's not anything they haven't already heard.
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Smart move by AT&T which gets a lot of heat for poor network coverage, especially in NYC and San Francisco.
It's a nice way for AT&T to admit it has issues, ask for feedback (making it very easy for consumers to do so), and likely reduce the level of screaming from those frustrated. If someone has a network issue and is very frustrated they may be inclined to tweet about it or write about it on their facebook wall or complain to all their friends and family. The act of reporting a problem when they come up will give the user the satisfaction of having told someone about it, hopefully, someone that will actually do something about it.
It will be interested to see if AT&T ends up doing an ad campaign around the likes of "You spoke, we listened," showing proof points of the level of "problems reported" in certain areas and how that volume has dropped as AT&T has responded to and fixed network issues.
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