Registration is now closed. If you would like to attend this event, please email baileyanne.gandy@utoronto.ca. 

Professor Meric S. Gertler
President, University of Toronto
 
cordially invites you to a thought-provoking talk by
 
Professor Mara Lederman
Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

While there is much hype around social media, organizations are still trying to figure out how best to use it and what to do with the huge amounts of data that it generates. Beyond acting as a new platform for advertising, social media is changing companies' relationships with their customers in more fundamental ways. Customers can now communicate with companies in real-time: offering feedback, compliments, complaints, identifying service problems and even helping to monitor employees. This, in itself, is not new - long before Facebook and Twitter, customers could write letters, call customer service lines or send email. What's new is that social media dramatically lowers the costs and increases the speed of these communications, while also making them public. In addition, it offers researchers a rare window into these communications, which have traditionally been kept private and therefore difficult to study.
 
In this talk, Professor Lederman will discuss her recent research, "Exit, Tweets and Loyalty," which examines the use of Twitter as a platform for customer complaints. This talk will also shed light on the conditions that encourage tweeting and responses, and the implications for both companies and market dynamics.

Prof. Lederman's presentation is part of an ongoing series of compelling lectures for alumni, hosted in cities around the world. U of T Where You Are brings the University right into your community. Stay informed, inspired and connected, because together we are boundless.