It’s not every day that you hear a major telecommunications corp buckled under customer pressure to reverse a charge or a bill, or is it? Ask Adam Savage of the TV show Myth Busters. You know, the one where they smash stuff and put things in their mouths and race things. I’ve never watched a full episode I must admit (I like my myths just the way they are) but he’ll likely attest to the continuing and growing dominance of social media as a force for consumer advocacy.

Savage received an $11,000 bill for a few hours of web surfing time while in Canada on business. No pics downloaded, no PHd thesis e-mailed, no uncut extended LOTR trilogy streaming . Just a few hours of basic e-mail correspondence and surfing over 5 days. So rather than call AT&T and ask for a polite and detailed explanation as to why they were trying to wring him like a wet dishrag for his hard earned cash, he turned to twitter. Within a few hours his 50,000 followers had created an internet stir that was surpassed only by Michael Jackson’s untimely death. Under the pressure of this negative publicity AT&T reversed his outrageous charges.

This incident represents that valuable consumer advocacy force of social media applications that has been hailed as paramount in its very existence by some, but to many users seems more an afterthought if not a non issue. And it’s not just service providers, even social media companies themselves are feeling the heat. The customer is boss.

In February Facebook retracted a new user information policy from pressure it received from tens of thousands of users, unimpressed by the proposed changes.

As we continue to explore and experience the groundswell can we expect companies to adopt better, less burglar-centric practices? Has the balance of power truly begun to shift between these two sides? One thing is for sure, the revolution will be tweeted. Seller beware…

Related posts:

1. The Facebook Files: Social media in a socialist democracy
2. Social media, isn’t that what the poor folk are doing? Why CEOs don’t tweet or have friends
3. Social media party still raging, but where’s the profits? Lending Club might know

Tags: Consumer Advocacy, Facebook, Savage, Social Media, Telecommunications

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