You know the drill: you need help from a company, so you call. Press pound this and star that, and hope somebody answers the phone. Wait no longer! Companies are using new high-tech ways to help you solve problems and answer your complaints. Shawn Collins had his first high-tech experience after a frustrating fight with his cable company. He's waited for months to have cables laid for his new phone lines. "I called them probably about 4 or so times over the months just asking them to come out and take care of it," he told us. But he never got results. Frustrated, Shawn reached out to the company via cyberspace, using the company's account on a social networking site. THAT got results. "I posted a message on there. In an hour, I got a response from the cable provider," Shawn recalled. Why so fast? Turns out the provider actually had an employee hanging out on Twitter, a site where users post thoughts, questions and complaints for the world to see. Shawn was shocked. Not only did he get an instant online response, but he got a call from the cable company. Then, someone showed up at his house. "The door bell rang and it was one of their technicians who had actually come to my house and this was all in the span of about an hour and a half from the initial Twitter," Shawn said. Lance Ulanoff, who is with PC Magazine, said this is the wave of the future. "This is how you do business in the 21st century," is how Ulanoff put it. "That's the great thing about the Internet. If you see somebody in a blog or in a forum talking trash about your company or being very angry because there was a problem, you can engage them right there and try and help them." Many companies are 'socializing' these days…some with their own pages on networks like MySpace and Facebook where customers can communicate in a less formal way than through a company Web site. Others actually patrol the social sites, chatrooms, and blogs and jump in when they see discussions about their companies… either praise or rage. Paula Berg, the manager of emerging media at Southwest Airlines, described that company's online response team. "At Southwest Airlines we monitor more than 100 travel and airline industry blogs a day. We also are very active on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook," she told us. Berg said social media is a focus for Southwest Airlines. Their goal: To know what's being said about the airline at all times. "I think when we first started participating, we were a little hesitant. We didn't want to seem like big brother," Berg confessed. Instead, she says the response has been surprisingly positive. They've said, 'Wow it's nice to hear a company communicating like a normal human being.' I have never had any negative response." Ulanoff says companies have everything to gain to get in there and resolve gripes… especially because what's posted online often stays online…both negative…and positive. "You start trying to engage people about the good things that are happening with your products, you can build that sort of viral good karma," Ulanoff explained. That's exactly what happened in Shawn's case. He went from being a disgruntled customer to actually posting blog entries praising his cable provider. One note of caution from Ulanoff -- Be careful when listening to praise about products and services. He says while some companies clearly identify themselves when they post. Others may not.