Today, Best Buy launched a new way for Blueshirt and Geek Squad Agents to connect with customers: TwelpForce.  Customers can Tweet to TwelpForce and Best Buy employees will respond. 

Providing support to customers on Twitter is not new to Best Buy.  My team and I have been Twittering to customers in English, Spanish and French for quite some time know.  I launched my Twitter, Gina_BestBuy, in April 2008.  We expanded to other languages a few months later and eventually other programs including support for the Reward Zone program, Best Buy Outlet Center, Geek Squad and our  Insignia exclusive brand.  In addition to my team at corporate, some stores have also joined Twitter to support customers.  One of the first was Bianca at store 221 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

We have had many successes through these engagements on Twitter.  For example: http://tinyurl.com/BBY-Harte. 

Twitter is an interesting social phenomenon.  It cleaves thoughts into a Spartan 140-character piece.  For me the mixture of grammar and syntax, the use of the lexicon, is an art.  Therefore, Twitter's appeal remains a bit elusive to me.   The concoction of words that take on meaning is powerful...the pen is mightier than the sword.  Words form phrases which make up sentences that then comprise treatises - this changes lives.  Only a few weeks ago, we in the US were celebrating the Declaration of Independence.  It is hard to image our founding fathers putting that masterful document into less than 140 characters. 

I do not doubt that Twitter has a place in our new world of rapid communication.  The recent events in Iran attest to Twitter's utilitarian applications.  Our team has seen the countless power of using Twitter to serve Best Buy's customers, and I am excited to see our Blueshirt and Geek Squad Agents enthusiastically jumping on TwelpForce to assist our customers.  However, with the amplification of a voice into the chorus of the conversation on Twitter comes responsibility to live the Best Buy values and philosophies.  These are the foundation for the culture of service at Best Buy.  Each Tweet is an opportunity for us all to show how we live the Best Buy values and philosophies.  I rise to the occasion as I know many will also.  I hope that in the coming weeks and months, Twitter connects our impassioned employees with our customers in new and novel ways that we have not yet imagined.  In the words of Buzz Lightyear, "To infinity and beyond"... a call to action in less than 140 characters.