Twitter has introduced new features designed to make handling customer service issues directly on the platform a bit easier for all involved. A new setting on profiles will allow them to show users whether or not the account handles customer service feedback and if so what those support hours are, the latter to better set expectations as to when the person sending in their problem will get a reply. The feature is similar to what Facebook already offers. Brands can display other accounts that handle support issues to more efficiently direct people as well.

image via the next web
image via the next web

This is a good move by Twitter since people are using the platform to complain to brands already and brands are using it as a de facto customer service tool, despite it not really being setup for that. It’s always been a bit clunky to have this conversation on Twitter unless you’ve effectively trained and scaled a team that specializes in doing so. So it’s kind of an admission along the lines of “OK, fine, if you’re going to keep doing this we may as well make it work better.” It’s also smart for Twitter itself since it brings more attention and usage to the network, something it’s always struggling with.