The other day I was trying to locate a package with Royal Mail. For some reason, I forgot we lived in a socially connected world and I ignored their twitter handle, found their help phone number, and called. I am serious when I say I have never been on a more convoluted phone system in my life. We're talking close to 30 minutes of me pressing one number, which took me to more menus, and then back again.
At a point, out of utter desperation, I pressed #4 which should have enabled me to register a complaint, but it sent me back to the beginning and subsequently disconnected me. Not saying that my beloved United States Postal Service is so much better, but if memory serves, one could at least press "zero" for a human. So I decided to go back to that page that had a Twitter handle. It was worth a shot...
I nearly smacked myself on the head. How could I have been so stupid?
Tweet now, phone later!
In this socially connected world, larger organizations, like that of Royal Mail here in the UK, may not have updated their archaic and impersonal mess of a phone system, their e-mail support may be corporate and unfeeling. But, social media is new. Social media is young. Social media is real time. So, in the future, if you have an issue, do yourself a favor and check if they have an active Twitter profile, and save some time!