The Bloglines plumber

This morning I was trying to access my bloglines account and was met with the picture above and this accompanying text.

Hi,

I'm the Bloglines Plumber. Bloglines is down for a little fixer upper. We will be back shortly. Bloglines will be all better when I'm done with it.

Thanks,The Bloglines Plumber

Even though I know it’s just a small little silly rephrasing of how other companies refer to problems with your log-in I, think it’s a very powerful communication tool to show a friendly and human face like this.

The other day I also heard that Flickr was referring to technical problems with the term “Flickr has the hick-ups”.
I like the tonality and grass roots feel about many of the “Web 2.0” companies. Even though their owners probably are multi billionaires by now, you still kind of like them because they are all about consumer empowerment and they are just here to help you – often free of charge.

There is a great article from Newsweek on the successful web 2.0 companies.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12015774/site/newsweek/