Dear Mom, I Enlisted in the Twelpforce

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@TwelpforceThis week marked the official launch of Best Buy’s @Twelpforce, which allows customers to connect with regular employees for questions and support with products and services they are looking at, or have already bought.

TechCrunch has been very positive on the idea of connecting customers with employees, calling it, “a phenomenal way to engage with Twitter users and social media in general.”

I’ve had an opportunity to join in on the experience as a Geek Squad Agent, and it’s been eye-opening in just how powerful the idea is. I’ve seen hundreds of customer-employee interactions since the launch, and it’s wonderful to see how welcomed the responses are by the public.

I think the thing that makes this idea so unique is that it’s not just another contact point for a company public relations team. Instead, it’s made up of regular employees from around the world, 700+ at last count. The expectation for participation, according to the publicly-available website is that @Twelpforce members, “just have to be curious, proactive, and helpful- much of the same stuff you do everyday.”

I look forward to more @Twelpforce twittering in my future!

Early Morning DTV Madness

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The DTV transition was mandated in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, but 13 years later, 2.8 million Americans were still not ready for the switch that happened today.

I had the opportunity to help answer phone calls with DTV questions on the Fox 8 News Call for Action phone bank yesterday and today, so I had firsthand experience with a few Cleveland area viewers who were not all set for the analog TV signals to go dark at 10:00 am today.

Although most Americans are ready for the transition, according to the FCC, there was an estimated 55,000 or more Cleveland area residents who weren’t. Most of their questions involved where to turn to as they had expired converter box coupons, having not bought their equipment yet. The answer, of course, was to call the 1-888-CALL-FCC hotline.

The other question that came up often was whether they really needed the converter box. I had a number of callers who believed that because the word “digital” appeared somewhere on the front of their TV, they were ready to go. In many cases, I found out that it was a “Dolby Digital” sticker on the set that was causing some of the confusion.

The cutoff came and went hours ago, and the world hasn’t ended. However, I really sympathize with anyone manning a DTV support phone bank in the US, as now the compatibility issues with faulty equipment, or VCRs that won’t automatically change the channels on converter boxes start to come up. Good luck, brave DTV soldiers!

Fox 8 Unplugged – DTV Questions Answered

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The DTV transition is finally (no, really!) going to happen on Friday, June 12th, at 10:00am. I had an opportunity to answer DTV questions on Fox 8 News Unplugged this morning, and will likely be helping out on their Call for Help hotline on Thursday to get viewers through their remaining DTV issues.

You can find out more about the DTV transition at geeksquad.com/dtv.

Geek Squad Academy Congressional Internship

Geek Squad AcademyDo you know any college women interested in scicence, technology and public policy?

The Geek Squad Academy and the Women’s High Tech Coalition are teaming up to offer 2 female college students a Congressional summer internship to work on science and technology-related public policy on Capital Hill.

The deadline to apply is May 6th, so if you know anyone interested, send them a link to the Geek Squad News article today!