Hey, Whatev. Thanks for your comment. I don't necessarily blame the company for that person's error in judgment. I was just pointing out that social media training is a crucial part of every employee's orientation to the company. Employees should be afforded training to teach them what could get them and the company into trouble. A short social media policy could be as short as "be professional" or as many as several pages long. Agents are also covered by FINRA rules that are very strict.

John: thanks for this post. My motto is not to sweat anything that won't matter in ten years. The 14-yr old definitely falls into that category. Everything else... NOT!

The PR list building and wire services HAVE to take some responsibility for the incredible spamming capability of their service! There has to be a way to use a data sorter to eliminate some of it. You can literally spam thousands of reporters at a time with the push of a button. And the PR services make it OH SO EASY by pricing their packages to add more and more for one price.

Hey Drew! Thanks for putting this list together. I also want to let your readers know that Todd Defren from Shift Communications is the keynote speaker at the PRSA Institute, on October 29. It's being held at the Iowa Health System conference center. Todd will be the lunch speaker and members may attend lunch only for $30 and $40 for non-members. Here is the link for more information and people can email me at [email protected] if they have more questions. Thanks! http://prsaciowa.org/meetinginfo.php

Hey Drew! Great post. I experienced this first hand when I recently visited Dell for a customer advisory panel. There is a disconnect between the company's vision and the actual reality of the customer service provided by its front line employees. Though I hardly doubt the sincerity of Dell's upper management, it rings very disingenuous when regular customers like me don't feel taken care of. Thanks for the insight.

I'm with ya, Paul. I have respect for Wordpress but I am in the category of "too busy to care" about those other features. Great post.

Drew, thanks for mentioning Steve and Meg Shearer. They are trying very hard to draw the small business community together and let everyone know the way to help local businesses is to buy local. They have been tireless champions and for almost no monetary reward. They are also beginning to use social media and are enjoying getting to know the bloggers and Twitter folks in Des Moines. By the way, Chocolate Storybook has homemade stuff made here in Des Moines. Not shipped in from a factory in who-knows-where.

Congratulations, David. I wish you the very best moving forward in your new role. No matter where you hang your hat, I know you're always thinking of new ways to be relevant. I look forward to seeing what great things happen!

David, Great post. I often ask my clients, "Does your boss allow you to go to lunch with your co-workers and clients?" This is a silly question and the answer is, "Yes, of course!" The point being...if you are allowed to have all kinds of offline conversations with people important to your business, then why shouldn't bosses be enthusiastically embracing social media, where they can actually read what their employees are saying to each other and clients? Employers have to trust their employees. Will they make mistakes? Yes. But it can be a learning experience. A good social conversation policy at the corporate level will both protect the company and its employees from making missteps.

I'll see you there! Joe, are you in favor of the Michael Jackson butter sculpture? :~)

Hey Brian: Thanks for responding. I got my money back, but not any of the time I spent resolving this problem. If I were Qwest, as I suggested in my post, I would be giving me a couple of free months of service. Seriously. My time is worth that. I lost a lot of time on resolving this problem. A personal letter would mean a lot as well. Your comment was very nice and all, but there's something about that personal touch from upper management. They HAVE to care about customer service in the competitive environment that they're in.

How can a "blog" without comments be first on your list? WOW.

I don't like olives either. My Italian father is baffled. :~)

I think it's very fortuitous for Pepsi that they share colors and similar look with the "Obama" O logo. Ever notice that?