Within minutes, Christi Day, the PR Person who manages Southwest’s Twitter and Facebook pages was bombarded with hate posts and tweets.  Many of which consisted of things like, “F— You, Southwest!”  So what did she do?  She immediately realized the magnitude of the situation and began investigating.  She tweeted back at him and called him apologizing and began collecting details.  Kevin, in the meantime, continued to bash Southwest.  On Sunday, Christi posted a blog post on the Southwest blog telling their side of the story and once again apologizing to Kevin.  There were several details in that post that Kevin just happened to forget in his original telling of the story.  Such as, the fact that he regularly purchases two seats, had purchased two seats for this flight, but then decided to fly an earlier flight.  Therefore, there ended up only being one seat available for him on the earlier flight, and he wouldn’t fit in it (or so says Southwest).

Why am I blogging about this?

Here’s the thing.  He complained on Twitter over the handling of the situation.  Perhaps the pilot was rude to him – we really don’t know.  Here’s what we do know.  What’s the purpose of complaining? To be heard, and to be given a reasonable resolution to your problem.  The company immediately apologized via Twitter, Facebook, and phone and then later wrote a blog post about it.  They gave him a credit for his troubles and a public apology via several mediums.  What more does Kevin want?  The company has done all it can do.  They’ve done exactly what they would do for any customer with the same gripe.  What do I think he wants?  He wants the press for his new film.

Today, he continues to whine on Twitter about the situation.  The AP has written a story about it.  It’s the talk of the media.  That’s what he wanted, and that’s what he got.

Now, Kevin, will you please stop whining like a baby and accept the apology and credit like a normal, mature adult?  Your continued refusal of all apology is only making you look bad at this point.

(And by the way, Kevin Smith blocked me on Twitter after seeing my Tweets about the situation.  I guess I’m special now, being blocked by a celebrity.)

The New Facebook

The new Facebook is something that has gotten a lot of press lately, both good and bad.  The majority of the articles written by technology blogs, newspapers, etc. have been positive, however, many of the users of Facebook hate the change and are protesting and finding loopholes to be able to go back to the “old Facebook”.  That’s more than apparent considering all of the new Facebook hatred groups and petitions that have formed, including one group that is encouraging users to join the Facebook developer program so they can choose to use the old Facebook.  Here’s the thing: That’s exactly what the old Facebook is, OLD.  What users are calling the old Facebook was a design that remained largely unchanged from the original design that was released in 2004 when Facebook first launched.  It’s been four years now; it’s time for change (that sounds oddly familiar).  The new Facebook features a beautiful design that really will help solidify Facebook’s stance in the Web 2.0/New Media marketplace.  The site is fast and dynamic.  The bottom line is that people simply don’t like change, even if it’s a positive change that is heavily needed.  People get so caught up in routines and patterns that when something as small as a new website design is released, they freak out and demand compensation.  The new Facebook is beautiful and intuitive.  It’s streamlined , and it just makes more sense than the old layout.  There has been an addition of a lot of white space on the pages as well.  That’s a good thing which improves organization and readability.  If users would just give the new Facebook a chance, they’d discover these things for themselves, and most likely discover that they like the new Facebook equally as much, if nor more, than the old Facebook.