I followed both Meijer + Comcast for a time at Twitter.

You’re right — @Comcastcares is extremely helpful — a Johnny-on-the-spot when it came to an outage situation. It’s a very good sign when customer service actively participates in a public setting. It shows that they are where their audience is — and that they care.

This is more than good customer service — it’s excellent social media PR. I feel better about them as a company for responding to me quickly, publicly, and professionally.

The @Meijer can be helpful, too. A stream of specials, mostly. A little overwhelming for me, so I opted out after a while. But when I want to know what’s on sale, I know where to go!

Thanks for posting!

Based on my experiences in mid-Michigan and in the Detroit-area, I would have to say that your assessment of businesses and blogging in our state is right on.

Most CEOs I talk to panic at the mere mention of losing control of their message. I think many of them see the social media train coming, but they don’t know how to react. Their heart tells them one thing, while their head says another.

Because of our state’s very serious economic transitions, you’d think, big and small businesses would be more open to web 2.0 and the social media.

Meanwhile, there’s a real need for web 2.0 and social media evangelists to keep this new communications channel in front of the business community.

Great post.

WES