- Follow us:
- Talk to us: TalkToUs@Qwest.com
- Watch us:
Why Social Media?
"Listening to and understanding our customers so completely that we deliver a total customer experience that exceeds expectations."
- Qwest CEO Ed Mueller, on Perfecting the Customer Experience, Feb. 26, 2009
Qwest is Listening
Welcome to Qwest's home for all things social media. Qwest customers are talking online, and Qwest is listening! Check back often to see what's new with Qwest Social.
Talk To Qwest
- Qwest has launched Talk to Qwest, a program focused on resolving customer service issues through online outreach.
- Talk to Qwest provides quick and courteous resolution for customers who need assistance.
- Need something? TalkToUs@qwest.com
or follow us:
www.twitter.com/TalkToQwest
FAQs
What is Talk to Qwest?
Talk to Qwest is a program with a dedicated team focused on resolving customer service issues quickly and courteously through online outreach. Follow the team @TalkToQwest on Twitter or TalkToUs@Qwest.com.
What hours is the Talk to Qwest team available?
Monday - Friday: 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. MST
Saturday - Sunday: 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. MST
What can the Talk to Qwest team help me with?
Talk to Qwest is focused on resolving billing, account, tech support, product and pricing inquiries.
Where is the Talk to Qwest team located?
Talk to Qwest has representatives in Boise and Idaho Falls, Idaho and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Meet the Talk to Qwest team!
How can I contact Talk to Qwest?
Follow us at www.twitter.com/TalkToQwest or email TalkToUs@qwest.com.
Social Media 101
"Social Computing is not a fad. Nor is it something that will pass you or your company by. Gradually, Social Computing will impact almost every role, at every kind of company, in all parts of the world."
Forrester Research, Social Computing
How Networks Erode Institutional Power, and what to Do About It.
What is Social Media?
Social media is information content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies that is intended to facilitate communications, influence and interaction with peers and with public audiences, typically via the Internet and mobile communications networks.
The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and "building" of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM).
source: Wikipedia
Social Media In Plain Media English Video
Glossary
Aggregation is the process of gathering and remixing content from blogs and other websites that provide RSS feeds. The results may be displayed in an aggregator website like Netvibes or Google Reader, or directly on your desktop using software often also called a newsreader.
Alerts: search engines allow you to specify words, phrases or tags that you want checked periodically, with results of those searches returned to you by email or RSS feed. This form of search allows you to check whether you, your organization, your blog or blog item has been mentioned elsewhere, and so to respond if you wish.
Archive: A blog index page, often organizing posts or entries by either category or date. On blogs, archives are collections of earlier items usually organized by week or month. You may still be able to comment on archived items.
AstroTurfing: A fake online campaign push to generate buzz or interest in a product, service or idea. This is considered a black mark on any organization who attempts such an action.
Asynchronous Communications are independent of time or place, and messages go to and fro rather than appearing in one place at almost the same time (synchronous communication). Examples of asynchronous communication are email lists, bulletin boards and forums.
Authenticity is the sense that something or someone is "real". Blogs enable people to publish content, and engage in conversations, that show their interests and values, and so help them develop an authentic voice online.
Avatars are graphical images representing people. They are what you are in virtual worlds. You can build a visual character with the body, clothes, behaviors, gender and name of your choice. This may or may not be an authentic representation of your self.
Back channel communications are private emails or other messages sent by the facilitator or between individuals during public conferencing. They can have a significant effect on the way that public conversations go.
Blogs are websites with dated items of content in reverse chronological order, self-published by bloggers. Items - sometimes called posts - may have keyword tags associated with them, are usually available as feeds, and often allow commenting.
Here's a longer explanation: Traditional websites have pages as their main building blocks, with an address link (URL) for each page, and menus to provide navigation between them. Blogs are websites where the items of content - for example text, photos, video, audio - have URLs plus other ways of identifying them by keywords - known as tags. This means you can search for individual items on the Net, and also pull items out of sites and remix them through feeds and aggregation. Blogs are generally designed in journal format, with most recent items at the top of a page, and written in a conversational, personal style, giving the author an authentic voice online. Blogs can offer readers the opportunity to comment on, and link to items. Because blog items can be made available from the site in a stream of content - known as an RSS feed - you can subscribe to them and read them through a newsreader or aggregator. That means you don't have to visit a blog site to read it - you can pull the content to your desktop or a single website aggregator. Blogs are easy to set up, and update. The disadvantage is that items can get buried under the growing heap of new content unless the author provides some signposting.
Blogosphere is the term used to describe the totality of blogs on the Internet, and the conversations taking place within that sphere.
A blogroll is a list of sites, typically displayed in the sidebar of blog, showing whom the blogger reads regularly and personally sees as an influencer in their areas of interest.
Bookmarking is saving the address of a website or item of content, either in your browser, or on a social bookmarking site like del.icio.us. If you add tags, others can easily use your research too, and the social bookmarking site becomes an enormous public library. If groups agree the tags they'll use, it makes collaborative research much easier.
A browser is the tool used to view websites, and access all the content available there onscreen or by downloading. Browsers may also have features including the ability to read feeds, write blog items, view and upload photos to photosharing sites. Browsers have become the central tool for using social media as more and more desktop tools previously are becoming free online.
Bulletin boards were the early vehicles for online collaboration, where users connected with a central computer to post and read email-like messages. They were the electronic equivalent of public notice boards. The term is still used for forums.
Categories are pre-specified ways to organize content - for example, a set of keywords that you can use but not add to when posting on a site. They form part of a taxonomy.
Champions: in order to get conversations started in an online community, you need a group of enthusiasts willing and confident to get things moving by posting messages, responding, and helping others. These enthusiasts are often referred to as champions.
Chat is interaction on a web site, with a number of people adding text items one after the other into the same space at (almost) the same time. A place for chat - chat room - differs from a forum because conversations happen in "real time", rather as they do face to face.
Collaboration: social media tools from email lists to virtual worlds offer enormous scope for collaboration. Low-risk activities like commenting, social bookmarking, chatting and blogging help develop the trust necessary for collaboration.
At greater length: Collaboration is one of the higher goals of social networking - being able to discuss and work with people across boundaries of organization, time and space. The tools to achieve this extend from email with attachments through web-based workspaces with messaging, file storage, calendars and other tools. With the right equipment and connections you can talk to and see each other, text, sketch and transfer files almost instantly. You can set up a workspace in a virtual world, and collaborate with other avatars. However, the conditions for successful collaboration are more human and cultural than technical, with the bottom line being trust. Bloggers maintain that the conversational and authentic tone of the medium helps create conditions for collaboration. Sharing, commenting, chatting, co-authoring allow low-risk explorations of who you would feel comfortable working with.
Collective intelligence has been defined by George Pór as the capacity of a human community to evolve toward higher order complexity thought, problem-solving and integration through collaboration and innovation. For a network to develop this "mind of its own" there needs to be a willingness among members to share and collaborate. Collective intelligence is not the same as the Wisdom of Crowds, where individual preferences and decisions may aggregate to produce better results without people consciously collaborating. The latter is more market oriented, the former more cooperative.
Comments: blogs and social media sites may allow readers or friends to add comments under items. Many blogs provide a feed for comments as well as for main items. This means one can keep up with conversations without having to revisit the site to check whether any additional comments have been added to the conversation.
Commitment: the "social" aspect of social media means that tools are most useful when other people commit to using them too. Commitment will depend on people's degree of interest in a subject, capability online, preparedness to share with others, degree of comfort in a new place, as well as the usability of the site or tool. If people are passionate about a subject and desperate to share and research, they will usually clamber over technical problems. But making things technically easier - while desirable - won't usually gain people's commitment on its own.
Online communities are groups of people communicating mainly through the Internet. They may simply have a shared interest to talk about ... or more formally learn from each other and find solutions as a Community of Practice. Online communities may use email lists or forums, where content is centralized. Communities may also emerge from conversations around or between bloggers. List or forum-based communities can be difficult to join up with blog-based communities because of the different ways they operate technically. While some communities do emerge organically, specific community-building requires time, thought and research if there are specific goals to achieve.
Community building is the process of recruiting potential community or network participants, helping them to find shared interests and goals, use the technology, and develop useful conversations. A number of different roles may be involved.
Connections: as high-speed, always-on, broadband connections becomes more widely available, it is easy to forget that the speed and nature of Internet connection available to people on a network will determine what tools they can use. If people are still using telephone dialup they may require more time to receive video and voice over IP. If they don't have an always-on connection, Web-based tools will be less appealing because work on them can only be done when connected.
Content is used here to describe text, pictures, video and any other meaningful material that is on the Internet.
Content management systems (CMS) are sometime described as the Swiss Army knives of social media. They are software suites offering the ability to create static web pages, document stores, blogs, wikis, and other tools. CMSs have the advantage of offering comprehensive solutions - but can be challenging to configure, and each of the different tools may not be quite as good as a stand-alone version. Unless one has some technical skills, CMS solutions are best suited for situations where one can employ a web developer to work with and provide continuing support.
Conversation through blogging, micro-blogging, commenting, contributing to forums is the currency of social networking.
At more length: A popular perception of bloggers is of people ranting on a virtual soapbox without knowing who is listening. While that may be true for some, the real rewards of blogging come from exchanges with others. Every blogger needs an audience - and preferably one adding comments. Even better if another blogger picks up your item, adds a link and a little interpretation, publishes on their site, and puts a trackback to yours. That way you pick up readers coming in from the other site, and know from the trackback you have someone with whom to start a conversation. Even if there isn't a trackback, you can set up searches to alert you when someone mentions your name, site or conversation thread on the Net.
Crowdsourcing: Harnessing the skills and enthusiasm of those outside an organization to offer their time contributing content and solving problems. Crowdsourcing can be paid, or voluntary.
Culture: social media only works well in a culture of openness, where people are prepared to share. For that reason, commitment and attitude are as important as tools. Creative two-way communication and collaboration is unlikely to flourish in an organization where the norm is top-down control. When people in that sort of culture talk about networking they may have a hub and spokes model in mind, with them having some central control.
Cyberspace has been widely used as a general term for the Internet or World Wide Web. More recently blogosphere has emerged as a term for interconnected blogs, or the network of the conversation as a whole.
Default, in computing, refers to the settings on any device that come "out of the box". It may be used loosely to suggest "lowest common" ... so when trying to set up ways of collaborating online you may hear reference to email-with-attachments as the default. The challenge in social networking is that you may need to move from default mode to something customized to your requirements.
Face-to-face (f2f) is used to describe people meeting offline. While social media may reduce the need to meet, direct contact gives far more clues, more quickly about a person than you can get online. Online interaction is likely to be richer after f2f meetings.
Feeds, or RSS Feeds are the means by which you can read, view or listen to items from blogs and other RSS-enabled sites without visiting the site, by subscribing and using an aggregator or newsreader. Feeds contain the content of an item and any associated tags without the design or structure of a web page.
Folksonomy: Taxonomies are centralized ways of classifying information - as in libraries. Folksonomies are the way folk create less structured ways of classifying by adding tags.
Forums are discussion areas on websites, where people can post messages or comment on existing messages asynchronously - that is, independently of time or place. Chat is the synchronous equivalent. Before blogs developed, email lists and forums were the main means of conversing online. Forum discussions happen in one place, and so can be managed and facilitated in ways that blog conversations can't because these are happening in many different places controlled by their authors.
Friends, on social networking sites, are contacts whose profile you link to in your profile. On some sites people have to accept the link, in others, not.
Groups are collections of individuals with some sense of unity through their activities, interests or values. They are bounded: you are in a group, or not. They differ in this from networks, which are dispersed, and defined by nodes and connections. Email lists and forums sit easily with bounded groups, blogs with networks - although the match with tools is not entirely clear-cut. A group may use a blog, and an email list may serve a network.
Hits: A metric used in Web analytics to represent an action.
Hyperlink: A navigational reference to another document or page on the Web
Instant messaging: (IM) is chat with one other person. Using an IM tool like AOL Instant Messenger, Microsoft Live Messenger or Yahoo Messenger. The tools allow you to indicate whether or not you are available for a chat, and if so can be a good alternative to emails for a rapid exchange. Problem arise when people in a group are using different IM tools that don't connect. One way around this is to use a common Voice over IP tool like Skype that also provides IM.
Links are the highlighted text or images that, when clicked, jump you from one web page or item of content to another. Bloggers use links a lot when writing, to reference their own or other content. Linking is another aspect of sharing, by which you offer content that may be linked, and acknowledge the value of other's people's contributions by linking to them. It is part of being open and generous.
Listening in the blogosphere is the art of skimming feeds to see what topics are bubbling up, and also setting up searches that monitor when you or your organization is mentioned.
Location: the nature of location and presence is changed by the Internet and social media, because you can be active online in many different places, including in virtual worlds. Mobile applications are pushing more visibility into location-based content and posting.
Logging in is the process to gaining access to a website that restricts access to content, and requires registration. This usually involves typing in a username and password. The username may be your "real" name, or a combination of letters and/or numbers chosen for the purpose.
Lurkers are people who read but don't contribute or add comments to forums. The one per cent rule-of-thumb suggests about one percent of people contribute new content to an online community, another nine percent comment, and the rest lurk. However, this may not be a passive role because content read on forums may spark interaction elsewhere.
Micro-blogging: A form of blogging allowing users to compose brief text updates and publish them. Twitter and Friendfeed are popular mirco-blogging sites.
Networks are structures defined by nodes and the connections between them. In social networks the nodes are people, and the connections are the relationships that they have. Networking is the process by which you develop and strengthen those relationships.
A newsreader is a website or desktop tool that acts as an aggregator, gathering content from blogs and similar sites using RSS feeds so you can read the content in one place, instead of having to visit different sites.
Peer-to-peer (p2p) refers to direct interaction between two people in a network. In that network, each peer will be connected to other peers, opening the opportunity for further sharing and learning.
Permalink is the address (URL) of an item of content, for example a blog post, rather than the address of a web page with lots of different items. You will often find it at the end of a blog post.
Photosharing is uploading your images to a website designed for sharing. You can add tags and offer people the opportunity to comment or even re-use your photos if you add an appropriate copyright license.
A podcast is audio or video content that can be downloaded automatically through an RSS feed subscription to a website so you can view or listen offline.
A post is an item on a blog, social media site, micro-blog or forum.
Profiles are the information that one provides about themselves when signing up for a social networking site. As well as a picture and basic information, this may include an individual's personal and business interests, a "blurb" about them, and tags to help people search for like-minded people.
Registration is the process of providing a username, password and other details when seeking to access a website with restricted access.
Remixing: social media offers the possibility of taking different items of content, identified by tags and published through feeds, and combining them in different ways. You can do this with other people's content if they add an appropriate copyright license.
RSS is short for Really Simple Syndication. This allows you to subscribe to content on blogs and other social media and have it delivered to you through a feed.
Searching for information on the Net is done using a search engine, of which Google is the best known. Specialist search engines like Technorati concentrate on blogs. As well as searching by word or phrase one can search on tags, and so find content others have keyworded.
Sharing is offering other people the use of your text, images, video, bookmarks or other content by adding tags, and applying copyright licenses that encourage use of content.
Social media is a term for the tools and platforms people use to publish, converse and share content online. The tools include blogs, wikis, podcasts, and platform sites to share photos, text, video, applications and bookmarks.
Social Media Release (SMR): A Web 2.0 version of a traditional press release with multimedia content, hypertext links and keyword optimization.
Social networking sites are online places where users can create a profile for themselves, and then socialize with others using a range of social media tools including blogs, video, images, tagging, lists of friends, forums and messaging.
Stories, as well as conversations, are a strong theme in blogging. Anecdotes, bits of gossip and longer narratives work particularly well on blogs if they have a personal angle. It helps others get to know the blogger - and helps the blogger find and extend their voice.
Subscribing is the process of adding an RSS feed to your aggregator or newsreader. It's the online equivalent of signing up for a magazine, but usually free.
Synchronous communications are those occurring in real time, like chat, audio or video. Face-to-face communication is synchronous in the same place. Telephony is synchronous, in different places, The Internet extends the scope for both types of communication.
Tags are keywords attached to a blog post, bookmark, photo, video or other item of content so you and others can find them easily through searches and aggregation. Tags can usually be freely chosen - and so form part of a folksonomy - while categories are predetermined and are part of a taxonomy.
Taxonomy is an organized way of classifying content, as in a library. Providing contributors to a site with a set of categories under which they can add content is offering a taxonomy. Allowing people to add their own keywords is to endorse folksonomy.
Teleconferencing is holding a meeting without being in the same place, using a network connection and tools like Voice Over IP, Instant Messaging, Video, and Whiteboards.
Threads are strands of conversation. On an email list or web forum they will be defined by messages that use the use the same subject. On blogs they are less clearly defined, but emerge through comments and trackbacks.
A topic in an online discussion is an idea, issue - talking point - in a conversation that is made up of threads.
Trackback: some blogs provide a facility for other bloggers to leave a calling card automatically, instead of commenting. Blogger A may write on blog A about an item on blogger B's site, and through the trackback facility leave a link on B's site back to A. The collection of comments and trackbacks on a site facilitates conversations.
Transparency: Enhancing searching, sharing, self-publish and commenting across networks makes it easier to find out what's going on in any situation where there is online activity.
To upload is to transfer a file or other content from your computer to an Internet site.
URL: Unique Resource Locator is the technical term for a web address like http://www.bbc.co.uk
User generated content (UGC) is text, photos and other material produced by people without paid professional production.
Video: Many digital cameras and mobile phones take videos good enough to view on the Net. Sites like YouTube, Facebook and Viddler now make it easy to open an account, upload and share your videos. These sites will also provide some unique code for each video so you can, if you wish, embed the video in a blog post.
Virtual worlds are online places like Second Life, where one can create a representation of yourself (an avatar) and socialize with other residents. Basic activity is free, but one can buy currency (using real money) in order to purchase land and trade with other residents. Second Life is being used by some voluntary organizations to run discussions, virtual events and fundraising.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) enables you to use a computer or other Internet device for phone calls without additional charge, including conference calls. By using headphones and a microphone you can also free your hands to use instant messaging to keep a shared note of conversations, or use other virtual presence tools. You can use Voice over IP to do interviews for Podcasts.
Web 2.0 is a term coined by O'Reilly Media in 2004 to describe blogs, wikis, social networking sites and other Internet-based services that emphasize collaboration and sharing, rather than less interactive publishing (Web 1.0). It is associated with the idea of the Internet as platform.
Widgets are a stand-alone applications one can embed in other applications, like a website or a desktop, or view on its own on a mobile device. These may help individuals to do things like subscribe to a feed, do a specialist search, or even make a donation.
A wiki is a web page - or set of pages - that can be edited collaboratively. The best known example is Wikipedia.org, an encyclopedia created by thousands of contributors across the world. Once people have appropriate permissions - set by the wiki owner - they can create pages and/or add to and alter existing pages. Wikis are a good way for people to write a document together, instead of emailing files to and fro. You don't have to use wikis for collaborative working - they can just be a quick and easy way of creating a web site.
The content of this Glossary is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 License and partially sourced from SocialMedia.WikiSpaces.com
Meet the team @TalkToQwest
Hello, Karen Alasin here.
I began with Qwest in 2004 in sales, and I'm thrilled to a part of @TalkToQwest! I love working with customers both directly and behind the scenes. I get great satisfaction when I can find a solution to a problem or identify an issue before it becomes a problem.
When I am not at work, you might find me hanging out with my boys trying to understand the finer points of soccer or contemplating where we would put that shark or dragon if we adopted one as a pet. And sometimes a quiet room and a good book are just the ticket.
On Qwest Social: Web 2.0 opens up new ways for people to communicate with one another. I see it as a new way to reach out and partner with customers to provide better, timelier and more relevant customer service.
My name is Brian Avila, but you can call me B.
I was born and raised in Idaho, and I live in Boise with my wife and two beautiful daughters. I have worked for Qwest since 2004 - started in sales, then wireless support and now I'm @TalkToQwest.
I love listening, playing and teaching music, as the music director at my local church. Occasionally, I get the chance to indulge in a good video game!
On Qwest Social: I'm passionate about helping customers, whether the issue is great or small. Customer service is 50% listening and understanding, 50% knowledge and explanation. My mission is to provide actionable feedback to ensure an excellent customer experience.
Hi there, my name is Steph Boyd.
I have lived in Boise for my entire life - seriously! I am engaged to be married, have a 14 1/2 year old daughter and 12 pets (not counting the fish) - 4 parrots, 2 dogs and 2 Chihuahuas (they don't think they're dogs), 4 turtles and a number of fish.
I am a Jeep enthusiast, and when not working I can be found on trail rides or rock crawls. I have been at Qwest since 2003 in customer service, collections, pilot projects and now I'm @TalktoQwest.
On Qwest Social: I love working with customers online because the web is the best place to find information and resolve issues. People don't want to have to write letters anymore. I can help more people - on their terms!
I'm Mark Marquez.
I was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska (Go Huskers!), served 4 years in the US Navy, and have worked for Qwest since 2004.
I can play 13 instruments, but guitar and piano are my favorites - I actually played onstage with Def Leppard one night! My wife and baby girl are the pride and joy of my life, and I would eat Mexican food every day if I could!
On Qwest Social: I thoroughly enjoy my job, and I'm fascinated with social media and conversing with customers via Internet posts. Our main focus is to let the online community know we are here and ready to help out in whatever ways we can.
I'm Steve Schwartz.
I live in Boise, Idaho now, but have lived everywhere growing up as an Air Force "brat". I have two kids and I'm a die-hard San Diego Chargers fan!
When I'm not skiing, hiking, mountain biking, going to the movies, riding in the park, at a concert or a local social event - I'm @TalkToQwest! I've been at Qwest since January 2003 and never looked back!
On Qwest Social: I am glad to be a part of this new and developing community at Qwest!
What's Up? This is Joshua Sippola, but you can call me Sipp.
I live in Idaho Falls and began an awesome career with Qwest in 2005. I started in customer service, moved to Quality Assurance and now I get to be part of the @TalkToQwest revolution - and I love that!
I'm married to a beautiful girl, and I love college sports - especially the University of Texas, but my close proximity to Boise allows me to see games on the Boise St. Broncos' "Smurf Turf". I'm a freestyle bowling pioneer, have a small apparel project going and have been working with a crew on a movie project that's bound for the Sundance Film Festival - bottom line I stay busy!
On Qwest Social: Since my recent immersion into the social media world - I'm addicted. The possibilities are endless and we have a fantastic group of people working to perfect the customer experience for Qwest customers.
Hi, I'm Corey Tidwell.
I grew up in Boise Idaho, joined the United States Navy and I'm a San Diego State University Alumni. I have been with Qwest 2003 working in sales, wireless support and I'm psyched to be @TalkToQwest.
I enjoy the outdoors in the great state of Idaho because you do it all - skiing, golfing, biking and fishing. My wife of 16 years, Carol and I have two teenage sons who definitely keep me on my toes!
On Qwest Social: I am excited to be part of this new venture @TalkToQwest - reaching out to customers online providing solutions for anything they need.
