San Francisco residents now have an easier way to complain. Mayor Gavin Newsom, a big Twitter user (he first announced his bid for governor of California via Twitter), is looking to kick the city's customer service up a notch. Residents (or really anybody that's on Twitter) can send Tweets to @SF311 reporting potholes, city de-beautification adbandoned vehicles and more. Based on the Tweet signatures, it looks like the city has a couple people devoted to reading and responding to these Tweets. They say they want to reciprocate the follow, but they are currently only following about half of their followers. But I guess I should give them some slack. It's only their first day at this. (And they already have 28 Tweets!)
They also encourage you to direct message (DM) your complaints.
"Hi, we're processing your Tweet. For faster service, please us a DM as only DM's are monitored real time"
Initially it sounds like an efficient means for resolving problems. If this works, it'll be interesting to see if other cities follow. But I see a few things that may cause some hang-ups.
1. How do you detail your complaint in 140 characters or less? Some problems just require more explanation.
2. How do they keep it positive? Why would I want to follow them? Will they ever start the conversation instead of just responding to it?
3. Can't you only DM someone if they're following you? So how will that service request response work if there's no follow?
Would you like to see your city do this? And do you think it makes for faster resolution of city problems?
NOTE: Thanks to David Feldt for the news.
Sarah Jo Sautter
Strategists & Planners
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