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Unpaid Contributors Provide Corporate Tech Support
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times writes about Justin McMurry of Keller, TX, who spends up to 20 unpaid hours per week helping Verizon customers with high-speed fiber optic Internet, television and telephone service. McMurry is part of an emerging corps of Web-savvy helpers that large corporations, start-up companies, and venture capitalists are betting will transform the field of customer service. Such enthusiasts are known as lead users, or super-users, and their role in contributing innovations to product development and improvement — often selflessly — has been closely researched in recent years. These unpaid contributors, it seems, are motivated mainly by a payoff in enjoyment and respect among their peers. 'You have to make an environment that attracts the Justin McMurrys of the world, because that's where the magic happens,' says Mark Studness, director of e-commerce at Verizon. The mentality of super-users in online customer-service communities is similar to that of devout gamers, according to Lyle Fong, co-founder of Lithium Technologies whose web site advertises that a vibrant community can easily save a company millions of dollars per year in deflected support calls' and whose current roster of 125 clients includes AT&T, BT, iRobot, Linksys, Best Buy, and Nintendo. Lithium's customer service sites for companies offer elaborate rating systems for contributors, with ranks, badges and kudos counts. 'That alone is addictive,' says Fong. 'They are revered by their peers.' Meanwhile McMurry, who is 68 and a retired software engineer, continues supplying answers by the bushel, all at no pay. 'People seem to like most of what I say online, and I like doing it.'"
Is this guys time worth nothing?
Yeah we've all been there as the angel tech support person. Problem is what when you get burned out of answering the same stupid question again and again, you'll quit doing it unless there's some incentive. I answered 20 or so tech questions on yahoo answers because I was bored, but that was short lived... I probably won't go back for another 6 months. Now, pay me something reasonable and I would go back every night.
If a company wants to become serious about this, they could make unofficial certifications and hand out prizes to the top x posters for the month. Peer respect is great and all, but being well-liked on the internet doesn't get much.
120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
Says the person with a +5 Informative comment. Why did you post something that might be so informative to others? I bet it was your ego that made you post.
A few years ago I was made a MVM (Much Valued Member) over a DSLReports.com/BroadbandReports.com for my contributions to several of the forums I frequented. I'm approaching close to 9k posts there, a high majority of them in response to other peoples technical questions. I never have received any compensation for my time spend on the site other then a little tag that shows up next to my name and the occasional kudos someone might send. It did give me a big of a "warm fuzzy" when I learned that I became a MVM, and it is appreciated when someone says "Thanks, you helped me out" or "Thanks for the explanation".
I guess you can call it ego, but I'd say it's just people that want to help others and have the time to do so. If that help turns into a power trip though, then it become egotistical.
I actually see both your point and the GP point. I'm with you as long as someone else isn't making money off my free labor. If they make more money because of my work, then it stands to reason that I ought to also. I'm happy helping people with free products because no one else is making money from my labor.
When the axe came to the forest, the trees said, "Look out - the handle was once one of us."
tech support script readers
I'm not American, but why not just put the scripts online? I mean, you can have problems without your net being totally unusable. The customers can read themselves, they don't need people in India to do so for them. Heck, Verizon might put the scripts online EVEN FOR PROBLEMS WHEN THEY CAN'T GET ONLINE. That would be great and really Kafka. I love it already.
Chronologically late.
Says the person with a +5 Informative comment. Why did you post something that might be so informative to others? I bet it was your ego that made you post.
A few years ago I was made a MVM (Much Valued Member) over a DSLReports.com/BroadbandReports.com for my contributions to several of the forums I frequented. I'm approaching close to 9k posts there, a high majority of them in response to other peoples technical questions. I never have received any compensation for my time spend on the site other then a little tag that shows up next to my name and the occasional kudos someone might send. It did give me a big of a "warm fuzzy" when I learned that I became a MVM, and it is appreciated when someone says "Thanks, you helped me out" or "Thanks for the explanation".
I guess you can call it ego, but I'd say it's just people that want to help others and have the time to do so. If that help turns into a power trip though, then it become egotistical.
dslreports.com is a user community, though. Their revenue comes not from selling connectivity, but from ads from traffic to the site. Sure, it's about ego, and posters like you do help them generate revenue... but they never set out to sell a service.
Verizon, though? It's their JOB to give people communications connections that work. Part of that is support. People are, theoretically, paying for support when they pay for their connection... they're not paying a lower price for crappy support. And then some guy is volunteering to fill in the gap they've left. In essence, they're selling his free labor. That's where it becomes exploitation, and the reason they're able to exploit him is his ego.
(Says the one who was once well-known on the Everquest Tech Support forum, and who used to volunteer as a sysop on the MSN Gaming Zone a decade ago. Yeah, BTDT, I have an ego too. ;-)
Don't you wish your girlfriend was a geek like me?