July 19, 2009 is a date that has already taken on meaning to all
Best Buy associates. For them, it is the official launch day for
getting paid to tweet to existing and potential customers – the day @TwelpForce goes live, according to Bloomberg.

Twelpforce is Best Buy’s answer to leveraging employee downtime to
harness a little social media power with the intent to bring more
customers in the doors. One awkwardly positive post
praises Best Buy for their innovation in this initiative, though it
should be noted that Dell actually pioneered this form of customer
service in 2007 well before the Twitterverse explosion and saw a ROI of over $3M. But of course, I’m writing this because I’m not so optimistic for the ol’ boys in blue. Especially not after today…

I started digging and saw Best Buy Marketing Manager and TwelpForce launch supporter Mr. John Bernier’s tweet that nearly 600 people signed on to the program already. I thought, “Great! Time for a test-drive!”

Follow the link to read my full review, complete with source links and pictures: TwelpForce