Participation promotes ‘Satisfaction’

I’ve spent some time looking at Get Satisfaction, which bills itself as “people-powered customer service.” It’s an interesting site and concept, one that will likely gain some attention due to a recent BusinessWeek article and a post on Consumerist.

Essentially the site works by allowing individuals to post customer service complaints or questions to company boards, and it allows either companies or other individuals to respond to the questions. Think of it as kind of a wiki for customer service issues. Companies responding to questions or complaints have their answers marked as “official,” but anyone can respond. There’s also a digg-like element in that there’s a rating system that allows users to promote topics to the top.

While there are some big-name companies listed (Google, Coke, Apple, Levi’s) there are also some that I’m unfamiliar with—like Eskwela, an invite-only social directory targeted to Filipino students and alumni, or Networth IQ, “a social personal finance tool where you can track, share, and compare your net worth.”

Currently, the site lists 439 companies and 375 products and services as having open topics. It’s another social media channel that is important to monitor, and one that welcomes (honest, open, and transparent) participation by companies.