Skype Uses Social Media to Calm Users During Shut Down
By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2010-12-30 00:26:00 | Word Count: 664
Millions of users lost their Skype connection since yesterday, and the problem still has not been completely fixed. Skype blamed the shut downs on the client computers that act as supernodes to connect other clients across the Web. So far, no-one is complaining.
The VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephone company is owned by E-Bay, and is still somewhat mystified by the loss of connectivity. Of the millions of clients they have, the computers of only a small fraction act as supernodes—completely unbeknownst to the clients they belong to.
[ advertisement ]
Skype’s peer to peer system routes calls unlike other phone company systems. It depends on the supernodes to help facilitate connections between people, because its users span the globe. Skype Europe was seeing a high number of connection problems as well. The company came out with a response immediately, saying its engineers are working to create new mega supernodes as fast as possible to fix the issue permanently.
Meanwhile, about 30% of its users are still not able to connect, but the situation has been greatly improved since yesterday. Skype began to notice the problem as the number of people connected dropped dramatically below normal for this time of year. Although the details aren’t exactly clear yet, the telecom company stated that the problem seems to have arisen because of some versions of Skype being used. It does seem a little odd that the small number of supernodes were taken down, especially since no-one but Skype knew which computers those were. No doubt the full details will be disclosed by next week in the press.
However, there hasn’t been a backlash against the company by Skype users or any complaints posted en masse over the Web. This is due to the fact that Skype did the right thing by constantly informing their users through all the social media outlets available to them.
Their response is a great example of the reputation management and online presence management strategies that we educate our clients about here at Optimum7. Companies who are still wondering why they need a social media presence and positive, offline SEO marketing strategies can learn from Skype’s example.
Skype was able to get the word out using tweets, through their company blog and via their Facebook page. They kept their users informed and as a result they have so far been able to minimize the bad PR that could have been generated with the shut downs.
They also used these outlets to let the public know right away that their engineers are working on a permanent solution, which calms worries and protects them against people ditching the service. If they didn’t do this and tons of people stopped using Skype, the door would be open for a competitor to step in and scoop them up. This same competitor could have used the lack of information to label Skype as unreliable, taking a chunk out of their remaining customers.
Skype was able to use their social media presence to mitigate a PR disaster. Early this morning, they tweeted, “Thanks for your continued patience while we get everyone back on line—sorry especially to those of you who are still waiting.” How can you stay mad at that response?
