It is easy to scoff at Twitter’s bubbly Web 2.0ness and a model that, on the surface, appears self-promotional. Billed as a “microblogging” service, the service permits 140 character updates from the site, any phone, and a growing array of desktop clients. It is easy to wonder what merit can arise from permitting people to speak of themselves from virtually any locale addressed by a cell tower. Yet, a peek beneath the glossy exterior reveals a teeming world of robust and, at times, very personal communication.
Twitter’s growing appeal stems from the idea that blogging should not be an exercise in talking to people, but rather one of talking with people. This is an age where pervasive and directed advertisement is a maligned affair, spawning a culture of those who close their eyes and plug their ears to it. Even amidst the web’s ever-growing fascination with ad revenue, users are increasingly appreciating a quiet world made possible by ad-blocking extensions and comprehensive filtering.
While Twitter cannot be mistaken for an agenda-free world, it is an enlightened arena dictated by unwritten rules of conduct. Of primacy is the notion that being a genuine and helpful person is more noble than any goal. Amongst the more reviled archetypes in the Twitterverse comes “that guy,” whose feed consists solely of pitches, advertisements, and announcements. Sooner than “that guy’s” account reaches a dozen entries, it has already fallen from grace and squandered any positive momentum it could have gained. Vetting users and their motives — enforcing the golden rule of personality — happens with arresting speed.
Twitter’s reliance on the ripple effect is the cornerstone of the service. New entries, called “tweets,” can be syndicated by a process known as “retweeting” with the touch of a button. Because users are constantly cultivating spheres of interconnected friends and associates, a follower may retweet an entry of import into an entirely new social circle. This mechanic can generate new followers in a flash or connect an account with the dreaded #twitspam tag just as quickly. Indeed, it is not uncommon for one user to commit a #twitspam update and have many users following that account do the same.
Twitter’s challenging landscape, one that demands personality, is a new and foreboding concept to users and conglomerates accustomed to the traditional and sanitized model of advertising. Such campaigns burst at the seams with deals, discounts, and announcements that have been meticulously scrutinized by a legal department. Meanwhile, Twitter’s focus on immediacy and candor has thrust the unwitting service into the business of commoditizing identity, not products. The question has become “What can we do for others?” not “How can we sell our product?”
This important distinction in the Twitterverse is one that users and companies are executing with varying levels of success. Streams like @Direct2Dell read like an RSS feed grabbed straight from the marketing and financial departments. These dry and obvious offerings are underscored by the number of followers: 461. Compare @Direct2Dell with the sensationally popular @ComcastCares stream which commands an impressive following of over 3000 users. While the Dell feed is plagued with marketing and self-promotion, ComcastCares swells with personal messages sent to other users.
As Dell dogmatically clings to a tired old model, the much-maligned Comcast has offered a personal and helping hand to resolve account issues for thousands of customers. It is suddenly asking the very important question: What can we do for others? Their execution is delivering acclaim in spades. Frank Eliason of Comcast has, by the power of personal identity, become the very appreciated face of Comcast in this corner of the web. Who names their child Direct2Dell.com, anyhow?
Second to the essential role of being an approachable human is the idea that a Twitter account becomes the very face of the company it is speaking for. Twitter’s bold and immediate nature carries the risk of offending people in the most immediate and very real way. People run the gambit of sensitivity, and the unwritten rules of Twitter set the expectation that communication be personal, yet professional. Just as an end-user may forever abandon a company based on the interaction with a single customer service representative, so too will they abandon a company if somehow wronged on Twitter.
In point of fact, Twitter can be seen as the black tie affair of social networking; what cannot be said in good conscience at such an event should not be said on Twitter. Yet for all the paranoia this nebulous framework implies, it is better to do and apologize than not do at all. As newspapers and websites print retractions, so should the operator of a Twitter stream be prepared to appeal for mercy.
For all the positive mojo that streams like @ComcastCares have generated, companies and users remain wary of the service. Social networking neophytes cannot surmount the misconception that blogging is for self-promotion, a model executed relentlessly by the waning LiveJournal. Others, particularly executives, are wary to commit both time and resources to an end that has no obvious metrics. Yet Twitter offers values to both parties who remain on the sidelines.
The neophyte should not be concerned with being inundated by shallow references to the lives of others. The very discourse of the Twitter timeline is conversation-centric, hoping to spur the kinds of discussions and interactions that occur offline. For exceptionally-connected friends, Twitter can serve as an avenue by which impromptu meetups can happen without an endless circle of phone calls and text messaging. The robust and mobile nature of the service assures that friends can stay in touch with friends in an age where collaboration rules the roost.
The executives, trained in the arcane ways of business administration, are troubled that there can be no spreadsheet or quarterly report to measure the impact of running with the service. This approach ignores the potential for tremendous organic growth. An interactive, polite, and pitch-free stream virtually assures a groundswell of returning or referred revenue, not to mention an outpouring of customer admiration.
Above all, be committed to the service and leave a lasting impression by being a lasting impression. Be a personable face that people can expect to talk to or read about each day; the continuing thread of human existence is an important part of our social ecosystem. Of course, all of this is not to say that streams of or associated with business do not carry an undercurrent of promotion, because it does. What is important to remember is that promotion is not the mean to an end. Whatever service a company or user may have to offer, it is most favorably delivered in an organic way that serves to genuinely help and influence the lives of following Twitter users.
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