Quick'n'Dirty: Intersecting social and customer service

It was yet another zany start to the Quick'n'Dirty podcast this week -- and it was completely my fault. Running late for the podcast I was zipping and driving to make it in time, but didn't make it, so I started it from the car. (Blue tooth, officer. Blue tooth.) Why is this relevant? It's not, really, except the show was worth zipping around for, because me and Aaron Strout had a lot of fun once again. We hope our listeners did, too.

This week we talked to special guest Michael Pace, director of customer support for Constant Contact. We learned several things about Michael an Constant Contact. For one, he's extremely enthusiastic about the cross between customer service and social media. Two, it appears that Constant Contact has done its homework and knows that the average person following the company on Twitter has about 1,100 followers. And three, that dating compatibility should be determined by the contents of one's iPod. OK, the last one wasn't about Constant Contact but it was Michael's idea. Give the replay a listen and find out more about what Constant Contact is doing with social media.

Before we brought Michael on the show Aaron talked about our featured social network of the week: Twapper Keeper. We both agree it's a ridiculous name (a clear spin-off of the Trapper Keeper) but basically what it does is allow people to archive tweets from their events or live chats. This can be done based on keyword or hashtags and other ways. It's a cool concept that people should try out if they want to save their tweets for posterity.

We also gave a shout-out to former Quick'n'Dirty podcast guest Tim Westergren, founder of the popular Pandora Radio. He was highlighted in TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people list in this week's issue. Congratulations Tim. Keep on rockin' and doing what you do.

Speaking of shout-outs, we also gave one to featured Twitterer of the week Andrew Fowler (@guhmshoo). Andrew is the founder of Newsvetter and the creator of the popular Guhmshoo cartoons, many of which poke fun at the social landscape. Congratulations, @guhmshoo. We love your tweets!

And finally, it was time for the point / counterpoint. Our most interesting debate likely happened pre-show when we discussed how we don't really disagree enough to point / counterpoint, but instead discuss hot topics. We're thinking of changing that segment. What do you think? Either way, this week we talked about closed communities versus open communities. I talked about how some companies are trying to do both and struggling with it. Aaron brought up how many companies do both successfully, but it depends on the goals of the company. Listen to the replay to hear more.

Big thanks to our listeners and to our awesome producer Rich Harris aka @47project. He's finishing up his first week with us and so far he's been hammered with the tedious details of getting us whipped into shape. We're pleased to share that Rich will step out from behind the keyboard on May 27 when he subs for me on the show, and really takes his hilarious personality for a spin behind the microphone.

Next week we welcome Alex Plant of NetApp. Please join us -- noon PT/3 p.m. ET on Thursdays.