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Is Twitter Twaddle?
Is Twitter Twaddle?
July 23, 2009
I've recently started twittering, for no reason other than, well, to partake in something that has grabbed millions of people around the globe. As an alleged marketing entrepreneur, I was beginning to feel distinctly uncomfortable whenever the subject of Twitter came up, and I knew that I wasn't part of the crowd! That said, I didn't go into it with any strategic plan or any great expectations and my initial thoughts were to use it as an online diary. As a business author, I reckoned it would be a useful discipline to see if I could write mini stories within the 140 characters limit, with no txt talk!
So, having used Twitter religiously for six weeks, documenting my daily antics and providing a blow by blow account of my latest Amazon book rank, what are my thoughts so far?
Firstly, I'm fascinated by the sheer randomness of Twitter. I’m not doing anything to gain followers, other than attempting to write interesting tweets. Well, they seem interesting to me, because after all, I am the subject matter! But boy have I attracted some unusual followers. I've had three women of obvious shady character (a euphemism for porno queens) that I suspect follow anybody with a pulse and a heartbeat in the hope they’ll get one or two people interested in following them.
Then I've had the people that are obviously doing keyword searches on Twitter, and you tweet on their chosen subject and they either follow you for your next two tweets before summarily despatching you or they stick around because you start following them. I've ‘met’ some fascinating people and I've also got a handful of clients, following me, which means that I have to think about what I write. And obviously, there are the followers that I don't know. At the moment I've got a very good magazine and a television company following me. My strategy? To play it cool. I've not set the world alight with a huge following, but then I'm not doing anything to generate one and I'm not Stephen Fry!
So how much enjoyment do I get from twittering? If you look at my postings, you’ll see that I like the sound of my online voice. I’ve gone back to my teenage years when I kept a diary, except now my diary is there for the world to see, (minus the drunken antics!). I've definitely increased my book sales on Amazon through Twitter and I've had direct messages from some interesting people. I suspect that if I really made the effort I could crank up my followers. But, I've made a conscious decision not to do this. I'm going for the slow scenic route. Let's see where it takes me.
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Comments
A comment to Ross.
I am not sure if you were ticking me off with your feedback, but nevertheless some great advice that you have given me here that I will take on board. I agree about engaging with people. I am always replying to people and leaving messages which is what makes it interactive.
I take your point about what you type etc being of little value but one of my key objectives is to type something relatively articulate in a short space (more of a personal challenge) and as I write for a fair number of publications where I can ramble on, this is one great discipline for me, so Twitter serves its purpose for me on that level alone.
By the way I don't mind being occasionally admonished as I am no stranger to dishing out the feedback myself and certainly no authority on Twitter.
Many thanks to everyone for their comments. The Blog certainly sparked a debate...now to think up something interesting for the next one. Tweet your suggestions to me!
Kind regards
Dee
Hi Dee,
Thanks for this. I am Twittering too, and can say it has had a positive impact on Website Traffic, and also in finding out good information within my business sector. its also been fun, and I have interacted with quite a few people I dont think that i would have done if it was not for twitter.
Certainly it forms another part of my online networking, and I have to manage the time I spend effectively using all the tools I can get !
Phil
As with other social media tools, it's about how you use them and whether they're the right fit for you as a marketer or your company.
If you don't engage with both the people you're following and those that are following you, you're probably not using Twitter as effectively as you might. Let's face it, there are plenty of other broadcast mediums out there without people treating Twitter like one.
Problem is, a lot of Twitter users become overly obsessed with who's following them rather than who they're following. I personally use Twitter more and more as a replacement for RSS and for direct access it gives me to the brains of thought leaders and my peers.
Most of the value from Twitter comes from the conversations and content sharing, rather than what you yourself may type.
hi Dee - I too am a relatively newbie to Twitter and like you am amazed at how people follow me, re-tweet my tweets and recommend my on a friday for doing very little apart from tell people interesting things that perhaps they don't know about!
I would say that Twitter is a great social networking tool that is helpful in making contacts and also if you need help as I have done on a couple of occasions usually people respond quickly and you get the answers you need very quickly!
As an example I recently asked for help on picking some speakers for my Ipod so can take with me on holiday - within 10 mins I had good replies and links to the models and with 30 mins I bought them from Amazon and they are now playing as we speak!
Keep tweeting Dee!
http://www.twitter.com/andydickens
I too have struggled with Twitter as a useful tool. Trying to write useful things in 160 characters does pose a challenge and I think any indepth information is lost on Twitter. Its all the rage but will people get bored of it? Im sure they are working on longevity there but will it work?
Another question for you, have you managed to utilise Twitter to increase traffic to a website?
My post about this topic is here:
http://www.q-mindspace.com/2009/06/flogging-and-twitterage/
I like to compare Twitter closely with RSS Feeds. RSS Feeds is meant to help you to reach a wider target audience and aggregates your message/content/products widely via different channels. But the part that it fails where Twitter doesn't is simplicity. Twitter is a great business tool to communicate with people and I believe any successful business is all down to a great business plan and effective communications.
A new technology is great only when it serves its purpose!
Tweet petite my dear nice and short and to the point, cuts out all the unecessary noise and gets straight to the core message.
How I wish most things in life could be so neat!
'Writing interesting Tweets' is exactly the right thing to do, and what works - if you are interested in creating a genuine following who, in some way, like what you like.
The downside is that there are many, many internet marketers out there who are clogging up Twitter with rubbish, using automated third party services to spam, and jumping on every Hashtag going in a desperate attempt to lure followers through to their scams and schemes.
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