Update to My Topix Experience
Yesterday I wrote on my frustration with Topix in trying to give them the user generated content they’re after. As stated, I contacted them after posting this and here is what took place:
- My email to Topix.com support was responded to within an hour and after trading a few replies my submitted story was posted.
- It sounded like (what they responded with) the main reason was the lack of a human editor for the Buffalo, MN news page, proving that even with all the glitz and glam of technology, it still takes human power to make things work correctly. I could really expand on this as human gathering, editing, approval and attention is the key to any great local website … but I’ll save that for another day.
- Lastly I choose to become part of the solution and submitted to be the editor for Buffalo, MN news. Within an hour I was approved … so let my duties begin.
Overall, I’m still not impressed with what had to take place to get this to happen. Isn’t the hard part of any business model, service or product getting people to engage the first time? Making a great first impression should be a major priority. Many users I feel would not have contacted them and their contribution would have sat dormant and that would be the last time they tried to participate or contribute. I was impressed with the timely replies to my emails and the quick resolution on their end … so it seems their customer service is in place to bail them out.