Twitter, I Just Don’t Get You
Twitter, I just don’t get you. I hear people talking all the time about how wonderful you are. I hear them saying how you are not only a fun Social Networking site, but that you can also be a great Marketing Tool. But, I don’t see you that way. So far you have been a complete waste of my time.
Maybe I haven’t given you a chance. It could be I hear you, but I’m not really listening. Honestly, I’m not sure you are listening to me either. I have a lot to say…. Why do you stop listening after 140 characters?
Many years ago, I decided to start cutting out the things in my life that were not good for me. You know, the things in life that take and take, but don’t give back. Twitter, you appear to be one of those things to me.
You keep asking me the same question over and over again!! Over the past year I have answered you so many times. Yet every time I answer you all I get back is the same annoying question, “What are you doing?” I answered you honestly and I got nothing. I fibbed and told you things that I thought you wanted to hear and still nothing…. Just the same freakin question.
I was just about to give up on you when I read Caroline Middlebook’s The Big Juicy Twitter Guide. She wrote how you can be an incredibly powerful marketing tool. At first, I thought she had gone crazy. After all, she was a blogger that I think very highly of. How could she feel this way about you, Twitter? How could a person market anything in 140 characters? But, by the time I got to the end of her Twitter Guide Series it appeared that she could be on to something. It made complete sense.
Caroline broke her guide into 7 parts:
- Part #1 - What is Twitter?
- Part #2 - Socialising With Twitter
- Part #3 - Using Twitter Properly
- Part #4 - Twitter Tools | Platform-Specific
- Part #5 - Twitter Tools | Web Applications
- Part #6 - Hacking Twitter
- Part #7 - Multiply Your Twitter Audience
Things between you and I are about to change, Twitter. So, go ahead and ask me again, "What are you doing?" Because, thanks to Caroline, the next time you ask me I’ll be prepared.
I will be following up with a post about my Twitter results next month. For any of you who would like to follow me on Twitter you can do so at Twitter.com/TheNanny612 .
Technorati Tags:twitter, social media, social media marketing, online marketing
13 Responses to “Twitter, I Just Don’t Get You”
By Caroline Middlebrook on Nov 6, 2007 | Reply
Aha! A convert! Mission accomplished
Thanks for the plug
By Shana Albert on Nov 6, 2007 | Reply
Caroline - No need to thank me. I truly felt this way about Twitter until I read your entire 7 part series. So, I should be thanking you. I am going to give Twitter another try.
Stop by anytime.
Shana
By Maki on Nov 7, 2007 | Reply
Caroline wrote a fantastic guide but I’m still not convinced about Twitter’s marketing benefits.
Twitter is horribly slow at times (when you want to add/delete friends) and too many people run with it only to drop it after some time (myself include).
It’s just clutter to me.. unless you have tons of friends like Scoble.. it ain’t gonna send much traffic.
By Tad Chef on Nov 7, 2007 | Reply
I think that Twitter is even dangerous a people tend to give away precious private information saying things like “I’m at work right now” so that a potential burglar can enter their home.
By Tinu on Nov 7, 2007 | Reply
You sucked me in, I was already to talk about how great Twitter is and how maybe you should try this or that. And then, all the great links. Thanks!
By Sebastian on Nov 7, 2007 | Reply
It’s great for broadcasting but I like best that it connects folks.
By Todd Mintz on Nov 7, 2007 | Reply
Well, I bought my first “Woot” product via twitter, so clearly there is business value for some.
By Dave on Nov 7, 2007 | Reply
Twitter is like MySpace .. if it makes sense to you it will work for you .. if you don’t get it, forget it!
By Shana Albert on Nov 8, 2007 | Reply
Maki - Thank you so much for your comment. I totally agree with you at this point. I am intrigued by Caroline’s Twitter Guide and I’m going to give Twitter a try for 30 days…. we’ll see what happens. I will be posting about my findings whether good or bad.
Tad - you are absolutely right…. that was one of the first things I noticed about Twitter.
Sebastian - It does connect people… that I can see. But, I can get that from other social networking sites. I’m looking for more from Twitter. We’ll see if he can give me what I’m looking for.
Todd - Thanks for stopping by. You know, it seems people have a lot to say about Twitter being used for Marketing… some good and some bad. I have to see for myself. So far, still not too impressed.
Dave - That’s how I’m feeling at this point.
Thank you all for the wonderful comments!!
Shana
By kelvin newman on Nov 21, 2007 | Reply
The thing I’ve found with twitter is the value you get correpsonds a lot more closely to the quality of your network.
While there’s no harm in being a bit of a floozie on linked in and facebook, if you do the same on twitter it ruins its use.
By Michael Lodispoto on Nov 24, 2007 | Reply
Hey thanks for saying what I was thinking about Twitter. I still haven’t seen what the hell it’s about and will use your own experience to see if I should bother with it. I work 12-16 or so hours a day already and now devote just a few hours of that time to online stuff, mostly learning about Social Media from you, Andy, Dosh, Sphinn and Lyndon and of course my new site earthfrisk.
I don’t have the time to try every new site, even if people say it is fantastic. Hope you say what’s up with Twitter soon.
By Shana Albert on Nov 25, 2007 | Reply
@Kevin - It’s been a couple of weeks I have been using Twitter now and I can see some benefits of it. As far as coming across as a floozie…. I don’t even know how that is possible in 140 characters.
@Michael - In a couple of weeks I will let you know my findings. I can see some benefits of it…. so far not huge benefits like Caroline mentioned. But, some mild benefits I can see so far.
By W David Stephenson on Dec 9, 2007 | Reply
I also wondered about Twitter’s grown-up utility. Now I think, among other things, it’s an essential way to communicate in emergencies: http://tinyurl.com/3yb6lc (did a YouTube vid about it as well: http://tinyurl.com/2v5las
Not to mention fact it forces you to be succinct. Oops, more than 140 characters!