Lots of buzz words kicking about in Thomas Cook's announcement of a 24/7 rapid response social media listening lab.
So, let's break it down a bit. The operator has launched a listening division with a 'specially trained team' to get a feel for what customers are saying about it on social media.
Cook says it believes it's a travel industry first but Delta's social media operation could also qualify for the job.
Interesting to note that the lab will actually be run by Chapel Social, a division of Chapel PR & Marketing, who will monitor the company's 60 brands.
The team is tasked with managing the brand's online reputation in real-time and generally tune into what is being said globally in tens of languages.
Brand fans or champions - people the company should be interacting with - are also to be identified as part of the remit and data will be collected to employ in future campaigns.
Also in the job description for the labbers is helping in a crisis situation as well real time comparison with competitors on social media.
And all this with a view to improving its marketing and building strong relationships with customers.
Thomas Cook Group global head of social media Jonathan Roberts says:
"Being proactive and having to monitor thousands of social mentions a day can be difficult and time consuming, but with the Thomas Cook Listening Lab, coupled with social media listing experts, we are able to see and resolve social concerns with our social media customer care team."
He adds that real time monitoring will help the marketing team create additional sales messages and target a specific customer segment based on their social media profiles.
Anyway, the listening lab includes six large monitors, specially designed computers and video-conferencing equipment for meetings with regional marketing teams as well as additional computers for interaction with customers.
Just one question - although outside expertise is good wouldn't it be better for Thomas Cook to handle all this in-house - it would save time and after all, aren't the people who know a company best the people who work for it?
NB: Big ears image via Shutterstock