Do you want a suggestion that, if implemented, will be the greatest boon that mankind has ever known?
Add a feature to Google news that allows a user to exclude any news item that has the name of a deselected person. For instance, I don't want to see any news item that refers to Tiger Woods, Sarah Palin, Dick Cheney, Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Prejean, Maxine Waters or that flatulent, blowhard, idiot Glen Beck. Then as Google News readers start to express their revulsion, publish the results. I'm sure that everyone would find the preferences very interesting.

Regards,

John Greenfield

To your point on bad PR I would argue, however, that an organization using a service like SuggestionBox stands to benefit from the mere experience, regardless of whether or not they implement every single suggestion. People want to feel like they're being listened to, they want to feel like their feedback isn't falling on deaf ears, and that they are valued as a customer. Of course a savvy company is listening to what's being said about their organization online, but SuggestionBox offers an additional way to say to a customer community “we're listening and we care what you have to say.” That statement alone is pretty darn powerful. I would also argue that the organizations that can afford to listen via social media probably have one or more dedicated staffers who are focused on community building – so managing a SuggestionBox would be an easy extension of that role. I do agree that the role, in and of itself, is not cheap. A Community Manager, however, is an emerging position within many companies who are starting to recognize that community engagement and participation is an extra expense that ultimately benefits the bottom line.

It's cool; I get it. And I love the idea, particularly for the small organizations such as nonprofits and associations that I'm affiliated with. The feedback would be very beneficial. But they're not looking for new ways to spend $500.

For the bigger organizations I am affiliated with, the $500 is NOTHING next to the cost in employee time and other expenses required to 'implement' suggestions in a timely fashion.

It's also nothing compared to the bad PR if your organization is not percieved to have implemented sufficient changes. If there was a Compliments Box that allowed shout-outs as well as 'needs improvement' type comments, I think there would be more positives to offset the negatives of a public suggestion box. Shoot, that sounds like a suggestion for Suggestion Box so I guess I made this comment in the wrong place — but Suggestion Box can just use their other social media monitoring tools to pick up on this 'suggestion' as can any other company that is listening online for what its customers might say.

Thanks for the coverage.