Frank Eliason formerly of @ComcastCares talks customer service and moving on

In the pantheon of social media, Frank Eliason is certainly something of a celebrity.

He was the start of a social media craze from Comcast, chasing down and responding to online complaints from customers. In the history book of social media, Eliason, who popularized Twitter handle @ComcastCares, will be among the forefathers of the movement.

After beginning in September 2007, his role was buffeted with a team of Comcast tweeters and blog readers and outreach specialists.

Nearly as well known as complaints about Comcast service were the signs of that Eliason’s team was listening. It was a strange juxtaposition, an attempt to move a mountain of negative perception with a relatively small team of persistent web-based professionals.

And Eliason was at the start of what has become accepted as the norm.

Read more

Comcast Roundup: NBC deal could be done after Thanksgiving, Fanvibe partnership and More

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

DEFINITE READS

• Bloomberg reports that 11 members of the Congressional Black Caucus called for the FCC to approve the Comcast-NBC deal, noting the company’s commitment to diversity.
• Multichannel News gives a ‘view from the top’ on the NBC deal, including noting that the acquisition could be passed as soon as after Thanksgiving.
• The LA Times reports on the continued effort by Dish and DirecTV to get coverage from Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, after filing a formal request for access last month, a March conclusion to the Versus debate and word of resolving the situation in January.

Read more

Comcast Roundup: CEO eyes paid video streaming, Time Warner deal and More

Every Thursday morning, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said two big things this week.

You’re gonna pay for online viewing of TV content and, yeah, this economy still sucks.

Roberts joined a growing group of cable company executives who are calling for a China Wall around online-streaming cable content, as Media Post News reported. They’re calling it an “era of authentication,” in which you won’t be able to pop in to watch episodes of your favorite gardening shows unless you prove you’re paying customer of HGTV. Time Warner and other top chiefs are mostly seen as on board — only technology and implementation stand in the way. The same obstacles for my jet pack.

Roberts also let us in on a little secret. The decline in consumer spending is still rattling Comcast here in the second quarter, as MarketWatch reported. Others have pointed to other reasons for the struggles, but those problems don’t seem to be disappearing anytime soon. Folks aren’t necessarily ditching their service any quicker, Roberts says, it’s just that no one else is calling up.

As if that wasn’t enough buzz, Roberts got some residual ink about the Time Warner deal from the Philly swoop by Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who said he and Roberts are gal pals.

After the jump, what if Comcast bought TimeWarner, at least somebody cares about hockey and five other Comcast stories the truly faithful would read.

Read more

Comcast Cares Day brings out 50,000 across country

We like the good stories, too.

Comcast held its 8th annual Comcast Cares Day on Saturday — sending more than 50,000 employees out for more than 500 service projects to log more than 300,000 volunteer hours in what they bill as perhaps the largest single day of corporate service  in the world, according to a company press release.

The company’s blog puts that total at *poof* more than 60,000, which may or may not be nonsense, but it does a fine job of chronicling some of the good works Comcast has involved itself in this year, like servicing public green space, helping at food pantries and other wholesome goodness that doesn’t cost too much but is sweet.

For all of those who like the redeemable parts of corporate USA, check after the jump.

Read more

Comcast Roundup: Comcast Center tallest U.S. LEED building and squabbles with Verizon

One particular company in our region garners more news coverage than any other by far: Comcast, of course.

It isn’t the region’s largest employer, nor is it even the biggest or most profitable. It just makes a lot more noise. While we cover some of it and hope to do more, a lot of that noise isn’t worth much more than a sentence or two. But much of it is worth following, and we bet many of you readers would like to, so we’re going to sort everything you need to know.

This is the Comcast Roundup, what may or may not become a regular department of ours (we don’t make promises we can’t keep, except to our illegitimate children).

• The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that the Comcast Center, the tallest building in Center City, has garnered another distinction — the tallest LEED-certified building in the country.

Read more on the company’s continued battles with Verizon, NFL Network, how Comcast might be defending your right to not pay more for heavy Internet use and more.

Read more