Social Networking is all abuzz in the online world.  Where once it was a struggle to get people to just use email, now more and more people have their Myspace accounts, Facebook pages and tweet their day away.  This absolutely applies to SOE customers as you are already online and leading the way.  

In my world it is always about how to better serve the customer and make their encounters the best possible experience possible.  We are always looking for ways to improve,  and adding “social networking” to that interaction might just be one of those ways.

At a conference I recently attended there was a lot of discussion surrounding this and some interesting data was discussed in regards to the different generations and their acceptance of social networking and the accumulations of contacts on the Internet. In other words, people have already moved away from the phone, and are moving from email to text (especially teenagers, one statistic I have seen shows teenagers text on average 42 texts a day), but what is next?  How do customers want to communicate, how they want to get help, how can we better listen to the voice of the customer?

For example, here are some of the thoughts on the different generations and their preferred communication methods:

Baby Boomers (born 1946 – 1964)

• Today: Prefer phone and primary method of communication
• Can’t understand why someone would want to share personal details online (blogs, communities, etc.)
• Pulled into social media by kids (Generation Y)
• Social media = necessary requirement to feel connected to kids

Generation X (born 1964 – 1979)

• Today: Prefer email and phone, growing uptake with other communication channels
• Utilizing some social media services more than others (example –LinkedIn, eHarmony)
• Walls between “on” and “offline” world
• Social media = necessary to stay current at work and career

Generation Y (born 1980 – present)

• Today: prefer text (chat and SMS), twitter, other forms of instant digital communication
• Redefining concept of “friends” — More casual relationships
• No walls between “on” and “offline” world — one in the same
• Social media = part of who they are

How customers will want to get their information, use information and communicate with companies and especially support is shifting.  Over the past few months I have been fascinated with Twitter and how it is used to communicate and relay information.  How we at SOE can use this as well as other “social media” applications and services is yet to be determined.  But feel free to follow me @MutatoSOE and drop me a line about how it can be used to support the games and customers best, or to just tweet about your support experience in general.

-Brad “Mutato” Wilcox
Executive Director, Global Customer Service