Twitter is proving to be a vexing customer service tool for big banks.  While customers like the ability to quickly and directly tweet questions or complaints to their bank, the banks are concerned that the rewards of quick responses might not offset the risks associated with this new form of communications, namely:  the need to protect a customer’s personal and financial information - e.g., bank account #'s.  As a result, they’re “struggling” with how to best use the service. Javelin Strategy & Research Study. In preparing its recent report on banks’ use of social media, Javelin examined nearly 5,500 Twitter messages sent by 3 big banks - Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup - in response to messages received during a 7-week period, from 9/20/11 to 11/10/11.  JPMorgan Chase also has a Twitter handle, but was not actively using the service during the relevant period - which stood out as a time of intense customer frustration with large banks.  Think "Occupy Wall Street" and BofA's proposed debit card fee. Javelin analyzed the final message sent by the bank to each particular customer to determine if the issue had been resolved, or if the customer was simply directed to another part of the bank, like a call center.  Javelin found that, over all, the banks didn't do a great job of resolving complaints via Twitter. Study Results. Conclusions. Javelin concludes that, whenever possible, banks should try and answer questions directly on Twitter.  That, however, would require bank reps to educate customers that they will need to switch to a private, direct message, or perhaps to another mode of communication - like phoning a call center - when account information or other personal data need to be transmitted.  Alternative means of communications also would be needed when dealing with messages that require more than Twitter’s 140-character limit. In this new age, banks and customers should make “reasonable efforts” to get in sync to avoid misunderstandings - like forcing a customer to explain his/her problem over and over again. “Twitter,” the report says, can be and “should be seen as a time saver, not an extra step in a conventional service channel.” [Dealbook 1/12/12]