U.S. Companies Surf Blogs For Consumer Complaints To Avert Sales Slump

New York, NY (AHN) - From online diaries, blogs are now becoming powerful consumer tools to spur companies into action. Firms are surfing through blogs in search of consumer complaints to swiftly act upon and avert a crisis that has the potential of adversely affecting company sales in the future.

An example of an American company which takes blogs seriously is Comcast. A blog entry by C.C. Chapman of a blemish on his cable TV's reception through social network Twitter was seconded by another Twitter subscriber. Within 24 hours Comcast dispatched a technician to Chapman's house to fix the problem.

Comcast had likely learned a lesson two years ago when someone posted on YouTube the video of a technician who fell asleep on a couch while he was placed on hold by the company. Over 1.2 million views were registered by the video, which invited more than 750 comments.

Blog's power as a communication tool was recently recognized by the Merriam-Webster dictionary which included the word Netroots among over 100 new entries. That word, first used in 2003, refers to grassroots political activists who communicate through the Internet, mainly through blogs.