Today I publicly criticized Xing on Twitter and was very impressed by their response. Here’s what happened…
The Press Release
I saw a retweet mentioning that Xing had reached 10 million users and read the article on Tech Crunch Europe. From there I followed the link to the official press release which appeared in German. So I used the “Language” button on the Xing website and selected English, but landed on a page featuring a press release from March 2010.
Me And My Big Mouth…
Without overthinking it (or thinking at all) I commented on Twitter that Xing didn’t even bother to publish the news in English. 
Xing Reacts (The Plot Thickens…)
Somebody at Xing replied to my tweet, pointing out that I was wrong. Of course I don’t like being wrong. But when I make a mistake I appreciate it when somebody makes me aware of it, especially when it’s done politely.
So Why Was I Impressed?
More and more companies have a Twitter account. That’s cool. But Xing obviously goes the extra mile and not only monitors what’s going on online but also reacts. As the social media gurus would say, they are “engaging with their audience”.
Responding To Criticism Ain’t Fun
It’s easy to react to compliments. But how do you reply to criticism, whether it’s justified or unfounded? Even if you’re right, it’s never easy to tell somebody that they’re wrong. In this case they could have (politely and between the lines) pointed out that I’m probably just too dumb to find the English press release. But since I’m the powerless little Netizen and Xing is the well-known company, they must be careful not to appear as a bully.
Stick To The Facts
They replied to my tweet, simply mentioning that Xing had actually published the English press release at the same time as the German one. They also included a link to the English version, which shows that they’re customer oriented (something that’s very important to me).
So What Did I Learn?
- Making stupid comments on the Internet can be fun, but you must be ready to fess up when called out!
- Some companies take the whole social media thing seriously. They follow what’s happening on the Interwebs and are willing to interact with their customers.
- I used to follow Xing’s Twitter stream but stopped since most messages were about the performance of their stock. (Okay, I might be wrong again since they have several Twitter accounts and I probably followed the wrong one). But the point is: Now I’m a follower again.
These guys really impressed me!
And now I’m curious, did you make similar experiences? Or completely different ones? Let me know in the comments! It’s easy. And apparently also good for your health 😉 Cool Linx:
- Press Release: Xing Passes 10 Million Member Mark (in English!)
- My Xing Profile – almost up-to-date and yes… I’m actually a customer. Or just a user, since I use a free acount 😉
- Xing on Twitter
And now please let me know what you think. Just add a comment. I’m dying to know 😉
