BofA is on Twitter, so why aren’t you?
January 13, 2009
“I work for Bank of America and I’m here to help, listen, and learn from our customers in the Twitter community.”
– David Knapp, BofA’s
Twitter Representative
Last Week, Bank of America launched a Twitter account, becoming the largest financial institution in the world using a social media tool for customer service. BofA joins a growing number financial institutions who are already utilizing the wildly popular Twitter tool, including Wachovia, NAB’s Ubank and a host of credit unions.
Bearing the username “BofA_help,” David Knapp is the bank’s sole representative staffing the Twitter account. What makes BofA’s use of Twitter so remarkable is that the bank is actually putting a face behind their megahuge financial institution — using a real person with a real name and a real photo.
And most significantly, BofA_help isn’t there to foist corporate info in one direction. BofA’s Twitter rep seems to proactively go out and actually find customers who need help.
After brandondees said this (to no one in particular)…
…BofA_help was right there — within the hour — offering some assistance:
In an exclusive interview with The Financial Brand, Joseph Goode, BofA’s official spokesperson, said, “Twitter is a great way for BofA to tap emerging tools. BofA is reaching out, listening and responding in real time — during good times and bad.”
So far, BofA_helps is racking up about ten updates (or “tweets” as they’re known) every day. Working mostly on an East Coast schedule (and apparently not on weekends), BofA_helps can only do so much via Twitter.
“I work for Bank of America, can I help you?”
<no response…>
“I work for B of A. Send me a message with your contact information and I’ll see what I can do.”
It would be nice if the BofA Twitter profile had a little more branding. There isn’t any red-white-and-blue on their page — just blue. Lots of blue. And no logo. There really should be a BofA logo on this page. And there’s no URL linking back to BofA (very odd, when you think about it).
Tip: You can (and should) customize backgrounds in Twitter, adding photos, logos, etc.
Key Question: Will the general public trust and believe that “David Knapp” really works for BofA when his Twitter page is so unbranded?
BofA’s Goode says the Twitter account is currently in a testing phase, but based on this test, you can expect more down the road, including adding branded elements to the Twitter profile.
Here’s a very scary (and very real) hypothetical: As consumers become more comfortable interacting with companies via Twitter, don’t be shocked when, all of a sudden, there’s YourBank_help or YourCreditUnion_help — accounts you didn’t create. In this new (and inevitable) form of phishing attack, people posing as your service reps will try to pry banking details from unsuspecting Twitter followers: “@phishingvictim Just DM me your account number and I’ll look into it.”
Surely these phishing Twitter accounts won’t stay open long, but the damage will be done. This is one really good reason you should always be monitoring a Google Alert for your financial institution’s name.
Twitter 101: If you’re scratching your head wondering what the heck Twitter is, don’t worry. Check this out: It’s a good, basic overview of Twitter. Just be warned: Almost everyone has a sharply skeptical opinion of Twitter when first hearing about it… then they become addicts (as has been documented in The Four Phases of Twitter). Also, as you absorb other people’s advice and opinions about Twitter, it helps to keep this in mind.
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Previous related stories from The Financial Brand:
- Twitter is white hot in the financial industry
- Twitter Phishing: How Can It Be Stopped?
- BofA taking Twitter to next level with CRM
- Petition to verify Twitter accounts for financial firms
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Filed Under: Social Media
January 13th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
As long as BofA can maintain its Twitter effectiveness and efficiency, which will be no small feat for a bank of their size, it’s a great way to add an additional touch point to their customers.
Does the BofA website list a link to their Twitter account so their customers can verify that they’re really talking to BofA rather than some guy that signed up with that name?
January 13th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
My understanding is that BofA is taking it slowly for now. I don’t think there will be any announcement nor cross-linking to the Twitter account any time in the near future.
I did a Google search to see if anyone, anywhere was linking to the BofA Twitter account yet… Nope. Nothing.
January 14th, 2009 at 8:35 am
We really have no way of knowing if BofA_help or David Knapp is actually legit. He is constantly asking people to send him their contact info and he’ll get in touch with them. I’m not saying it is, but this twitter account itself could very well be a phishing scam.
January 14th, 2009 at 9:59 am
You’re right Morriss. The general public has no way of knowing if this is a phishing account. But I have confirmed through 3 separate contacts at BofA corporate that this is indeed an official company initiative, including the person heading up the project (not David).
I also Googled “David Knapp” to see what came up. When I didn’t see anything significant (he used to work for Harris Bank I guess), I started wondering if the Twitter account was legit. But when you look at how many people BofA_help has actually helped, it seems pretty clear it isn’t a scam — too involved, too much work to create dozens of accounts, then fake like you’re helping them.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
This is very interesting. Despite the background leg work you did, it seems that BofA did not specifically say what twitter accounts are legit? There’s nothing stopping anyone from creating BofA_MaryJ or BofA_PeterS or any of another million possible plausible-looking names. It’s obvious that BofA needs to make unequivocally clear (on their web site) what/who are legit BofA reps/accounts on twitter. Otherwise, people will be snowed or worse. Bad accounts could go around giving untrue or false advice, or gain consumer confidence to be then exploited in a phishing attack.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
I have spoken to BofA’s corporate spokesperson on the phone who has confirmed that BofA_help is an official company contact. This is the only Twitter account BofA has.
Maybe you are saying that unless BofA spells out what accounts are legit and what aren’t (on their website, presumably), then they are opening themselves up for phishing attacks? If that’s the case, then you’re right. It would be important to clarify somewhere on your website what the names are of your official social media channels/representatives.
But even if they spell out what their official Twitter name is, nothing will stop someone from setting up @BofA_helps (added the “s”) and duplicating the graphics. There’s no police for this. Twitter won’t do it, will they? They could, but they’ve got fail whales to slay first, I’m guessing.
Twitter phishing scams are coming…soon. 3… 2… 1…
Should we coin a phrase: “Twishing Scam?”
January 15th, 2009 at 7:15 am
I ran across these accounts today:
http://twitter.com/bank_of_america
http://twitter.com/citi_bank
Who created them? And why? Are they cybersquatting Twitter names?
March 9th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Update: Someone spoofs a BofA Twitter account. No real harm done, but an illustration of how serious the problems facing financial institutions on Twitter are.
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