There are a variety of reasons that Twitter impedes our ability to help. We certainly try our best, but your best bet will always be contact us directly using our support site. So, why is Twitter such a bad medium for customer support?

It’s Unreliable

This is the single biggest problem. We have notifications setup through both Twitter and iPhone apps. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for us to not receive notifications for a day or two, and sometimes, the notifications may not show up at all. We strive to respond to all emails during business hours in about 30 minutes. We’re not perfect, but we usually respond in that same amount of time outside of business hours as well. When we don’t even know someone has asked for help, it’s difficult for us to provide the level of support that we’d like.

It doesn’t tell us who you are.

Many bugs or support requests require that we look at your account information. With Twitter, while we might be able to look your account up by your name, that’s not the most reliable method. Many people don’t include their real name or their full name on their profile, and even then, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be the only person in the system. If you use email, or even better, our support site, it’s much easier for us to look up your account so we have the best information to provide an accurate answer.

It prevents you from adding details.

One of the most important part of support requests is the request itself. Unfortunately, 140 characters is rarely enough to truly explain your question or problem. As a result, we often have to ask for more information or just take a guess about what you mean. The former slows the process down, and the latter could have us troubleshooting the wrong thing entirely. In either case, providing a thorough support request can help us help you faster.

It prevents us from providing useful responses.

Some questions can be asked in 140 characters, but it’s rare that thorough answers can fit in the same space. If we need to add screenshots or other attachments, the task is further complicated. We want to provide the best answers possible, but Twitter simply won’t let us do that. Of course, there are tools that enable us to provide longer responses, but that doesn’t solve the other problems.

Summary

We want to provide top-notch support, but unfortunately, Twitter complicates that. We want Twitter to be a good channel for communicating with folks, but if you need support or want a thorough answer, we recommend coming straight to us. You can use the support request form or simply email [email protected]. We’ll still do our best to help via Twitter, but we can be more helpful via email. Thanks for understanding!

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