Twitter for Large Companies 101

This is a “What Not To Do” and goes some way towards answering the question of whether Adobe, and other large companies in general, are just playing with Twitter to make themselves look good, and end up making themselves look bad in the process. Are most of the large companies, even tech-savvy ones, still at a total loss as to how to handle instant, real time, public conversations with their customers? My conclusion? Adobe has no idea what it’s doing with Twitter, at least not for the time being. And quite possibly neither do most of large companies out there. Let’s hope one day soon they will cotton on to the idea that having pointless conversations is worse than not having any conversations at all. And it all could have been handled so differently… (A brief and instantly resolved question and answer I had with @KLM comes to mind.)

Conclusions:

1. Conversations on the customer’s terms are not something that large companies are particularly good at (with some notable exceptions.) They would do well to read the Cluetrain Manifesto. It’s been out for ten years… Thesis 1 comes to mind…

2. Twitter is a wickedly attractive medium to “engage” with customers but since it flattens the access curve there needs to be a large amount of effort on the companies’ part to train and empower appropriate personnel to handle themselves properly in this wonderfully accessible medium. Proper engagement with customers requires investment in ‘front line staff’ on an unprecedented level if you’re a tech company that makes software and has been selling it through established channels for nearly decades.

The “conversation” as it unfolded:

Having finally updated my ancient Mac I naturally got Snow Leopard thrown in, in the bargain. All well and good since it’s faster and lighter than the predecessor plus some of the UX features really are rather good. There is a “however” in there and that is my InDesign, which I have been faithfully using since 2003 in version 2.0.2, and been quite happy with, suspended all willingness to co-operate. No matter. It was due for an “upgrate” (grating due to the prices which we keep paying) anyway, what with the wickedly fast new machine and all…

So it’s off to search for a good deal on an upgrade for me. In bricks and mortar as well as online stores. I don’t want the whole CS shebang at a quintillion shekels. Just plain vanilla InDesign will do. And here is the thing. Adobe, in its intimate knowledge of its customers needs, seems to have forgotten about us InDesign v. 2 users – no upgrade path apparently available for this lad.

Can’t be, right? So I did what anyone would do and that is tweet about it @adobe and even with the #adobe tag, at 16:59 (that would be a minute to 5pm) on Wednesday:

@adobe Is there an upgrade path from InDesign 2.0.2 (not CS2) to InDesign CS4? Doesn’t seem to be… (standalone version only)

Give them a little while… Wait a bit. At 18:05 follow up with this:

The cost of #Adobe CS would suggest that a spot of #CustomerService might be in order. I’m waiting to be pleasantly surprised @adobe

At 18:16 I get this:

@ralphtalmont Hi Ralph, did you have a support issue you were unable to get resolved? If so, @adobe_care can help

So far so good if not precisely the answer I was looking for. So I clarify:

@Adobe Just asking where to look for upgrade path from InDes 2.0.2 (not CS2) to InDes CS4: I can’t seem to find one. Pagemaker yes, InD 2 no

Waiting, waiting…
At 20:40 I hear from @Adobe_Care:

Hi @ralphtalmont thanks for pinging @adobe. What seems to be the issue regarding customer service? ^Bing

I state the problem again:

@Adobe_Care No issue re customer care yet :) just wondering where I find upgrade InDes 2.0.2 (not Suite) to current InDes (standalone ver.)

Now I reckon I should be close to getting the right answer. Waiting, waiting… And waiting… Evidently the question was somewhat perplexing. By the end of the evening it still wasn’t answered. By the morning there was still a gaping void where a message should have been. Obviously they’d misunderstood the question. So here we go again on Thursday morning:

@Adobe_Care So is there an upgrade path to current standalone InDesign from InDesign 2.0.2? #adobe

and almost exactly twelve hours later on Thursday evening:

@Adobe_Care Anything on the InDesign 2.0.2 upgrade path yet?

Finally it’s starting to dawn on me that Adobe has a couple of interns fire up their iPads (no they probably wouldn’t, make that their nondescript PCs) and fire off occasional Twitter messages just for effect so fools like me can get caught thinking they’re actually into, like, you know, talking to people. So at 11:30 pm on Thursday I send:

@adobe @Adobe_Care So am I going to get an answer to my question or is #Adobe just having a play with this Twitter thing?

and get back this little beauty in the morning on the Friday:

@ralphtalmont Hi Ralph, sorry you were not helped. Please send me a DM with more info?

I’m really at a loss as to what more info they might possibly be looking for, plus DMing is not my usual practice, especially when the conversation (more like me talking to myself) was begun in public so I continue with the patience of, of, well, the patience of a patient thing whose patience is being tried:

@Adobe I’m asking whether there is an upgrade path from InDesign 2.0.2 to current standalone version. Quark is looking really good now.

and follow up with this little piece of brilliance (well, brilliant for early morning):

Starting to have doubts whether #Adobe is actually serious about having conversations on #Twitter. Seems I’m talking to a wall :) @adobe

Adobe. Wall. Geddit?

More waiting ensues. While no work gets done on account I still don’t have an upgrade for the software and I’ll be dashed, as they say in classic period cinema, if I stump up for a brand new CS5 box.

Finally I heard back a little after 6pm on Friday and things progressed somewhat faster from there on, albeit down the path to Nowhere:

From @Adobe_Care :

Hi @ralphtalmont only InDesign CS2, CS3, CS4 are entitle for an upgrade to inDesign CS5. ^Bianca

and two hours later from @Adobe:

@ralphtalmont Hi Ralph, @adobe_care responded, “only InDesign CS2, CS3, CS4 are entitle for an upgrade to inDesign CS5″ Thx for yr patience!

Then from me:

@Adobe_Care @Adobe Hi. Yes. Right. I knew that. So why is #Pagemaker elligible ? Seems it’s a case of corporate oversight. Can we fix it?

and

@Adobe_Care @Adobe So how do I upgrade from #InDesign 2.0.2 to CS2? I’m looking for solutions here, people. The facts I’m familiar with :(

Watch for this pearl of wisdom:

@ralphtalmont If you have a CS2 upgrade you should be able to install it over 2.0.2. ^Bruce

Nooooo? Really? Wow. But let’s keep our patience a little longer:

@Adobe_Care Cool. That figures. Now how do I get one in 2010? Seriously, I’m looking for a solution here. Work is not getting done :(

@ralphtalmont we do have a free tryout of CS5 for 30 days, you can evaluate if you wish to purchase. ^Bruce

Well, Bruce needs a medal. He’s trying to sell me a brand new package while all I’m trying to do is to upgrade the software I already have. Great corporate thinking. This lad will go far. Lehman Brothers maybe?

Still, I have questions which need answering, so one more try here, just to make it obvious:

@Adobe_Care Tnx. Is that ultimately going to be cheaper than going down upgrade path???

to which I get back this marvel:

@ralphtalmont Not necessarily cheaper but it will tell you if CS5 meets your needs. You have missed a lot of upgrades. ^Bruce

Yes, thanks for pointing that out. Very helpful.

So, let’s recap. After repeating my question several times I’ve been told what I already knew, offered a deal on software I don’t want and told I’d missed lots of upgrades. Not very helpful. Evidently whoever runs their Twitter stream for Adobe needs to learn to listen, at least.

@Adobe_Care You’re in the business of selling software. I understand that. Too bad you don’t understand what I’m looking for. #Adobe #fail

–

Update:

Over the following few days not much happened beyond me trying to find alternative solutions and finally finding them. In the meantime:

From @Adobe_Care
@ralphtalmont were you looking for something besides InDesign? ^Bruce

I guess Bruce is looking to provide some customer service which is great but kind of on the useless side since it ain’t what I’m looking for.

@Adobe_Care Other than world peace and free energy? Not really. Just a clear upgrade path from InDes 2.0.2 without paying through the nose

to which they replied:

@ralphtalmont the upgrades you missed would have cost $995 total so you’re actually ahead at this point. ^Bruce

Well…. What can I say? I guess I’m grateful.
InDesign as a piece of software is terrific.
Adobe the company needs to learn a thing or two about this “social media thing”.