Are you being served_

[00:00.36] Social media is changing everything in trade.

[00:03.62] Even reserved Britons are losing their traditional aversion to making a scene and using social media to complain about bad service provided by businesses.

[00:13.89] That's what a survey by the Institute of Customer Service suggests.

[00:17.89] They analyzed data from 200 organizations, including banks, utility companies, and retailers, and have concluded that customers now expect 'dialogue, not monologue' from companies.

[00:29.43] If a shop assistant was rude and the price a rip-off, the unhappy customer - especially the young one - will take to microblog sites to slag off that company.

[00:39.45] The trend has increased over the last few years. Thomas Brown, of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, observed in an interview that big companies had previously enjoyed a "controlled" conversation with customers via advertising -

[00:53.73] and for a long time, unhappy customers could only express themselves through letters or calling a customer relations team.

[01:01.25] But with the internet, it's a whole new ballgame: which company can control online chat?

[01:08.02] Brown continues: "Now there's a risk that you could have a groundswell of customers talking to each other and, from the brand's perspective, it can get out of hand very quickly."

[01:18.54] Brown warns that there's a concern by businesses about the time and resources it takes them to properly manage social media. Big organizations which aren't monitoring it 24 hours a day could log off at the end of the trading day, only to log in the next morning to find that momentum has gathered behind a certain issue.

[01:37.08] But it's not all doom and gloom for businesses in this new era of intense connectivity.

[01:42.60] The old word-of-mouth recommendation has a new platform too. Perhaps it's more true today than ever before: a satisfied customer is a company's best advert.