Think Customers: The 1to1 Blog

For instance, last week, after the judges' long comments extended the show past 9 p.m., causing outrage because Idol darling (and my personal favorite) Adam Lambert's performance got cut from millions of preset DVRs, Idol changed the format.

Angry that they missed Adam's performance of Gary Jules's "Mad World" bathed in blue light, as well as the rare sight of Simon standing on his feet for Adam, thousands of people turned to the Internet to complain about last week's debacle.

So during last night's show, much to Simon's dismay, the producers changed the format. Instead of all four judges commenting after every single performance, they now take turns, going two at at time, taking their jabs or giving praise. I personally like the new model because it keeps the show from dragging on and prevents repetition of judges comments.

More companies should learn to adapt so quickly to customer complaints. Burger King, for example, apologized yesterday for an ad featuring a short Mexican draped in his country's flag standing next to a tall American cowboy. After Mexico's ambassador to Spain complained that the ad inappropriately displayed the Mexican flag, Burger King agreed to discontinue the ad campaign.

Other organizations like Facebook, however, are slow to adapt to complaints. After Facebook redesigned its site last month, many top applications have seen a 15 to 25 percent drop in usage. And the "We Hate the New Facebook Design" group currently includes 61,593 members. Rather than risk dropping users, the social networking giant should take a cue from Idol and Burger King.

Now if only Paula could take a cue from Simon to think before she speaks, we'd all benefit.