Two years back, Dell faced serious negative word of mouth from bloggers, but responded by solving their problems, starting its own Direct2Dell blog, asking for customer feedback at Dell IdeaStorm, seriously realigning its customer service processes and metrics, and finding new ways of engaging customers in a collaborative relationship (Jeff Jarvis in BusinessWeek via Rajesh) .
The Dell example is the exception rather than the rule - most companies still haven’t understood the concept of leveraging social media and engaging the customer in two-way conversations - but it serves as a powerful case study of what is possible if they did.
Also see: Mack Collier and Paul van Veenendaal.