What my little robotic vacuum taught me about social media

Photo credit: Robot BG

I was a couple years late to the party, but last winter, I joined the 9-plus million people who have watched the YouTube classic, “Cat in a Shark Costume Chases a Duck while Riding a Roomba.” The title is pretty much self-explanatory. But after I finished watching (and laughing) what I was really interested in was getting myself a Roomba.

The little robotic vacuum cleaners have been around for more than a decade now, but after some Googling, I discovered that recent models have taken things to a whole new level: scheduling, wireless integration, advanced “dirt detection,” etc. I had to have one.

What would follow was an unintentional crash course in the potential (and pitfalls) of shopping and customer service in the social media era.

By now, it’s not news that social media is everywhere. The average user logs in for nearly 1.7 hours every day or 12 hours a week, according to GlobalWebIndex. Millennials watch more YouTube than TV, by some accounts. But what’s easy to miss is how fundamentally social media has changed how we spend, not just our time, but our money.

The way people learn about products, evaluate them, buy, interact with companies and give feedback is all being mediated today by social media. It’s one thing to see the stats on this digital transformation (and there are plenty), but it’s another to experience it firsthand when you least expect it – like when you’re shopping for a Roomba.

Now, I’m an early adopter when it comes to technology, and I live and breathe social media at Hootsuite. But for businesses testing the social media waters, I hope sharing my little Roomba saga can shed some light on how Twitter, Facebook and other networks are quietly (and radically) reshaping the way people buy stuff – the timeless march known as the customer journey.

To be clear, I’m definitely not a paid Roomba spokesperson… and I don’t think these concepts apply just to robotic vacuums.

Down the Roomba rabbit hole

After I had my fill of cats-on-Roombas YouTube videos (turns out this is a whole genre), I got down to the business of picking out my model. Whereas in the distant past this would have involved going down to an electronics store or, in the more recent past, plowing my way through CNET reviews, in this instance I headed over to Twitter.

I posted the following Tweet to my Twitter followers:

Feedback started to trickle in. Guided by the wisdom of the crowd (or at least the few friends who replied), I set my sights on the Roomba 880, which was supposedly quieter and more powerful than other models.

Interesting side note: While buying the model online, I noticed that the Roomba folks had actually co-opted the whole cat thing in their sales materials. (I quote: “Just make sure your cat doesn’t hop on board the cleaning extravaganza and turn your Roomba into its personal hoverboard.”)

Customer service 2.0: Venting and redemption via social media