Quotes for the week ending 5th July, 2008

“”We are all Hussein.”

New York Times, reporting on how people are adopting Barack Obama’s middle name to counter those who are using it in a negative way.

“Twitter is the public square. Lots of noise, little signal. Blogs are like a speech. Signal, but little noise.”

Fast Company article on the power of Twitter, highlighting Tweets from Robert Scoble’s Tweetstream.

“Google is the perfect example showing reputation does not correlate with ad spending,”

Robert Fronk, senior VP-senior consultant, reputation strategy, at Harris Interactive.

“In this election the internet is for the Democratic Party what talk radio was for the Republican Party in the last 15 years”

Derek LaVallee, VP-U.S. public affairs practice at Waggener Edstrom, on research showing digital media preference of 18-35 year olds.

“I’m not retiring until every American agrees with me.”

Rush Limbaugh, quoted in the New York Times, in a story on his $400 million contract with ClearChannel.

“Twebinar”

A mashup of a name for a webinar (which itself is a mashup) and conversations talking place via Twitter before, during and after a webinar, attributed to Chris Brogan.

“Police wnt u to fight crime w/txt msgs.”

Headline for a story in USA Today, about Louiville, Florida police opening a text messaging tip line for teens to report crime.

“Your Personal Brand may be doing much more harm than good… to others.”

Mitch Joel, on a cautionary note about how people in an organization embracing social media should not expect others to have the same passion for it.

What McDonald’s knows and Milford Plaza doesn’t

Do you survey your customers? How many questions in that survey don’t even need to be asked?

I responded to two surveys this week, and some of the questions were so obvious and redundant, I bet the cleaning crew in the office would have been able to answer them. I was a stone’s throw from New York City’s Times Square last week, but when I needed a wi-fi connection to check in with the office, the Milford Plaza was not throwing that in as a value add. Like many hotels, they still make you pay about eleven bucks for it. It’s called “wireless high-speed Internet access available upon request.” Which strikes me as very odd, because (it’s an utility that’s soon going to be free) they’re giving it away for nada a few hundred yards away in McDonald’s.

So when the online ‘customer satisfaction survey’ from Milford promptly arrived a few days later, I knew there would be a wi-fi question. Someone in the org chart rightly paying attention to what customers think about bathroom fittings and the cleanliness of the lobby, had added it in. That someone probably knew what the rating scale would indicate.

So the next time you write a customer survey question keep this in mind.

• Gut check: Will it tell me something I already know/ignore?
• Org check: Could the answers change the organization’s attitude toward the customer?
• Sanity check: Does it make me look pathetic, needing to even ask?
• Golden Arches check: How would McDonald’s handle it?