Twitter: It's called "social" media for a reason.

Today Kimberley MacKenzie blogged about Twitter.  I started to respond via comments and realized, it was much too long for a blog comment - so my response became a blog.

To Tweet or not to Tweet?

I enjoy twitter.  My "social/personal" twitter is where I'm going to yammer about stupid stuff, like I'm on hold for 50 minutes. It's where I learn that my friend Lori in Vancouver is getting a cat. It's where I got the link to the new Star Trek trailer.  It's just fun.  And if it's on your blackberry(as it is mine), it's much less time intensive than facebook.

It's a great way to check on stuff in 2 seconds.  Kimberley says it's the modern day water cooler.  Maybe so - except, I have twitter on my phone and can use it while I'm at a stop light, at an event, or exercising along the lakeshore.

The water cooler requires me to stop what I'm doing, be in one place and speak with who ever happens to be there.  Twitter - lets me scan in 2 seconds many "tweets" and see what's happening and determine what, if anything, I want to spend more time on.  I like that.

Tools of the Tweet

This week, I discovered Tweetdeck.  If I'm at my computer, Tweetdeck can run in the background and I can see if someone responds to me, I can do a search of key terms and save it and I can see get a great overview of many things going on - again in 2 seconds.  

I use Twitterberry on my blackberry.  It lets me tweet from my phone.  I can upload pictures of what I'm doing.  We made use of this earlier this week while attending the "First Reading" for Tuesdays with Morrie. Examples can be found here and here.

There are others - but those are the two I use currently.

Why should I care that you did something inane?

Well - lets look at why it matters... Recently a couple companies (Dominos and Amazon) have been deluged by youtube and twitter chat about them that caused some serious PR problems.  This great article which I found via someone elses tweet, highlights how twitter can have a negative impact on your business and what you should do if your organization ends up being the subject of a "twitterstorm".

Twitter is word of mouth advertising.  I launched a "Tweet to Win" contest this week using our alscanada twitter account.  We're giving away free tickets to Tuesdays with Morrie to anyone who tweets about the play.  So instead of waiting for people to tweet about us - I'm encouraging them to do it!  I'm helping to guide what they say and rewarding them for saying.  It's fun!

Personality vs. Professionalism

I saw a great tweet today that was "retweeted" (shown as RT by tweeple) by serenevistas from its original author designriffs.   It said: "Social media isn't as much about setting up a shop front as it is setting up a personality and reputation."

That sums it up nicely for me.  People and/or Tweeple can tweet all day about fundraising if they want - but the reality is, the people who only tweet professional stuff, I ignore and in some cases, I stop following them. The exceptions to this rule are the news organizations.  I follow them for news - but it's nice when they tweet some funny news too!

It's called Social media for a reason!

There's a lot of stuff I don't care about - but I have the ability to ignore it in a fraction of a second and I like that.

So while many people won't care that I sat on hold with ticketmaster for 50 minutes (and finally gave up), some of my friends are amused.  It's OK that you may not be interested in the new Star Trek trailer, or in taking part in the ALS Canada, Tweet to Win contest. 

The great thing about twitter is that it takes you .02 seconds to decide what you want and don't want and if you are constantly barraged with stuff you don't want from someone - don't follow them.  That said, if your tweets are always professional and never (or rarely) social - you may find that your list of followers is very low and both your social and professional experience will be less impactful and enjoyable. 

I am an active "unfollower" of people who aren't social in their use of social media.  But that's just me and I rather enjoy being both amused and informed.  And to be fair - I am very easily amused...

And on that note...

I'm off to go play on twitter while I eat lunch and get ready to exercise on the lakeshore - where I will probably tweet about what I'm doing - just because it's fun.

Comments

[Lindsey]

Great point! I think people forget that it's about having a conversation with someone. I try to have at least one good conversation every couple of days, if not more! Tell stories, interact, answer people's questions and more!