Holding Office Hours
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Mar 24, 2009
If you've ever been to my main page, if you look to the left down about halfway you'll see a little box that says "Talk To Mitch." That box is courtesy of something called Meebo. Meebo is actually an instant messaging system that allows you to log into different types of instant messaging systems such as AIM, Yahoo, and MSN, but from your browser.
However, in this instance, it's main benefit is that, if I happen to be signed on and you visit my site, you can talk to me directly, or, if I'm not on, you can leave me a message. When I'm not on the road, every day I try to hold what I call "office hours" for at least an hour, sometimes more, which I'll usually announce on Twitter. I have the same Meebo box on my other business site, so when I'm on with one, I'm on with both.
Thus far, I've had very few people who've ever taken me up on my office hours notification, but that's okay because the times have been somewhat sporadic. When I get my mind together, I expect to set up more routine with it so that if people have been wanting to talk to me live, I'll be available for them when they'll be expecting it.
This might be something interesting for your business also; why not take a look?
Well now at least I know how to look out for you! I can see you are a man who loves to talk. Great blog
Diane
Thanks Diane. I wouldn’t say I love to talk as much as I love communicating. 🙂
Wow, so if I’m lucky I get to talk to Mitch The Man? Cool.
Sire´s last blog post..Blogging As A Source Of Information
Yup. Maybe one of these days or afternoons you’ll see my Twitter post and drop by, and we can talk live for awhile.
Gee, I hope you can understand my accent.
Sire´s last blog post..There Are Consequences To Being An Ass
I hope so also; I know you Aussie’s love yanking our chains by going to the extreme with your accents at times. However, with Meebo, it’s all words. lol
Long ago, I enrolled with Meebo but removed the “talk to me” box for the same reason you mentioned, Mitch. People were not contacting me through it.
I gave the service about nine months and realized that it’s simply not the way visitors want to communicate with me.
I would have left the box up longer if signing into Meebo was automatic when accessing my site. Instead, I’d have to go to Meebo and sign on there. I didn’t need the double work.
It’s a great service that I’d consider installing again.
.-= Shirley George Frazier´s last blog ..How to Capitalize on Local Networks =-.
I don’t mind going to the site and signing on, Shirley. I really don’t want it on all the time, so it allows me to set my office hours, so to speak.
And, well, as you see, I wrote about it here, letting people know that I would be doing it, and then I mention it on Twitter when I’m doing it. I don’t get lots of folks, but I have gotten some, and that’s not so bad.