People that complain via twitter may find their concerns falling on deaf ears. Consumerist is now reporting that some companies are using their presence on twitter to silence many of their critics. Some companies are responding to complaints via twitter but only to steer people to a direct (private) message. According to the article, many people just give up or forget to follow-up after getting in touch with a company representative via direct message twitter. 
While this tactic may silence some the long term backlash against these companies that choose to perform customer service activities with this ‘keep them silent’ attitude will quickly come about
First and foremost, not taking the time to listen to your customers is just poor business practice. Second, it will not take long for people to realize that companies are using these methods to keep people quiet. In many cases those that complain via twitter may do so through other channels as well. It is without a doubt that if this trend continues a website will be started to out the organizations that fail to act on their customers complaints via twitter.
