Update: Foursquare got in touch with me and explained the problem I’m having. They don’t have a solution just yet, but have added me to the beta list to help test a solution when they find one. Additionally, and and I dont believe connected, Foursquare appears to work in Cape Town, South Africa. At this point, it seeme to be an issue of what the network I’m on is vs. the network Foursquare believes me to be on. Will keep you updated. So I just landed in Frankfurt, Germany. Got ten hours to kill here on my way to South Africa. As the plane taxis to the gate, I launch Foursquare on my Blackberry Bold WorldPhone, and as expected, it [...]

Ready to watch a whole bunch of social media “experts” and gurus” go into cardiac arrest? IF YOU’RE A SMALL BUSINESS, SOCIAL MEDIA WILL NOT SAVE YOU. What WILL save you, is CUSTOMER SERVICE. IF YOU DON’T FOCUS ON CUSTOMER SERVICE FIRST, SOCIAL MEDIA WILL KILL YOU, and no “guru” or “expert” will be able to save your life. Focus on making customer service an AMAZING experience, and people will talk about you. They’ll talk about you online and on social media platforms. And THAT, my friends, will save you.

As you know, sometimes I rant about customer service. Sometimes, companies pay the price of my ranting. Sometimes, though, a moment happens where the customer service is truly, utterly amazing, that I’ve no choice but to write about how WONDERFUL it was, and how truly amazed I am. Flying home from Denver to NYC a few days ago. At some point during my trip, I’d lost my little bag that held an adapter and connector for my Sprint Wireless card. Figured I lost it at the client’s office or at the hotel. Checked online, my little bout of forgetfulness was going t cost me about $40 plus shipping to replace. OK, so be it. I’ll get to it when I [...]