As part of my social media marketing efforts for 2008, I signed up for a Twitter account on January 1st and have so far posted only 15 updates, most of which have been completely inane.
For example, who the heck really wants to know that I was “up way too early… again” or that I was “force-feeding the cat with a medical milkshake…“?
Mine haven't been quite as inane however as Chris Pirillo's “I farted” twit last night — which is silly enough to be funny… almost.
But I guess I'm missing the point.
Fortunately, Maki over at Dosh Dosh has written a blog post titled “17 Ways You Can Use Twitter: A Guide for Beginners, Marketers and Business Owners” that confirms my problem with Twitter and spells things out about how to use it wisely.
In her preamble, she talks about the problem with Twitter, and says “What really matters is how it impacts your online habits and daily life. For many, Twitter is a distraction…” and “It saps your attention and pulls your focus away from other tasks.“.
No kidding. You get in there and start reading Twit after Twit and next thing you know, you've twittered away an hour of your time. It boggles my mind to see some who are supposedly following 2, 3 and 4 THOUSAND other Twitter–ers? How the heck is that even possible?
Presuming you can avoid falling into the pit of distraction, Maki lists 17 good ways to use Twitter for getting feedback, personal branding, setting up meetings and more.
OK, so maybe I'll give it another try. In the meantime, let me know what you think…
Are you using Twitter? Has it been an effective marketing tool for you, or like me, do you find it more of a distraction?
[tags]twitter,marketing,blogging[/tags]
Twitter is great for business owners/CEOs that want to build their personal or professional brand. They do NOT sell, they just provide a window into their world, plus an occasional peak into their personal life. Writers are attracted to Publishers, wanna-be song writers are attracted to Record Labels, etc. A good twitterer doesn’t do celeb tweets (“I just had a panini for lunch.”), but gives insight into his day, with comments about his priorities, etc.
I follow someone who has a great craft site/blog. She never tries to sell anything via Twitter, just lets her followers listen to her as she does what she loves. (Buying beads today! I’m thinking brown and blue?) Links to photos and blogs are great and lend themselves to retweeting.
Good luck!
Ros,
Not to be too “picky” but Maki at Doshdosh is a guy.
He just likes female anime pictures. He’s philosophy student in Toronto with really high “people count” in Compete and 28,000+ RSS subscribers.
I’d say that’s pretty good for a student, no matter what he’s studying.
Chris
Hey Chris,
Duh. I knew that one point. Memory is going fast. :-/
Thanks for the correction!
Cheers,
Ros
I registered with Twitter about six months ago. Then I sat on my hands with it until about a month ago.
Now I am a convert! I am meeting some great people on Twitter and learning quite a bit from experts.
I would say to doubters that I certainly understand your position. But give it a chance and it may surprise you.
Hi Ros,
I just became your 100th follower. 🙂 You’ve finally sold me on Twitter (and it was the latest BlogClassroom webinar that put me over the edge. Thanks for all your help and support this year.
With smiles,
~Nikki
I’ve only just installed twitter as an experiment in its usefulness. I can certainly see how it might be a distraction however it might in fact be a useful marketing tool if used correctly. I read tons of blogs, Ezines and email daily. Between reading writing and getting work done on my blog and websites find my time very limited. Following someone on twitter can give me a heads up if they are doing something of interest or potential value. I suspect that many other might find this to be the case as well. On the reverse side of that coin, if I launch a product or project twitter might allow me to give a quick heads up to those who have an interest. It’s a very interesting concept but only time will tell if it will become more than a novelty.
Greg – Bummer ’bout that. That name / concept would have been awesome! 🙂
argh, someone’s already registered “twaddle.com”
Tells me something about you….
When I started reading your article about twitter I accidentally clicked the link to dosh dosh’s article and began reading. It both invigorated my interest in twitter and scared the buggers out of me at the same time.
Then when I read some of the comments here I was surprised at the level of dismissal by some readers.
Perhaps it’s just as important how we are introduced into twitter and the method of engaging it that determines it’s personal worth. The 17 things that Maki pointed out were diverse and seem to suggest different approaches of how one could configure twitter following for more immediate purposes.
How you receive twitts must have some impact on how you perceive them. There is such a variety of ways people see or use it. Finding the right application is key.
I turned the IM feature on and added twitter as a freind in gtalk.
It’s a fairly passive way to receive the messages. They just pop up in the lower right of my screen once-in-awhile and if something catches my interest I will comment back or click a link. If I do nothing it goes away. If I am busy or annoyed I just turn off gtalk. In fact, it’s become the only instant messaging I do for the most part. Rarely, do I ever go to a twitter.com page except to find, follow, or adjust someone or something.
Twitter itself is neutral, semi-passive, immediate, and quasi-intimate. It’s also fully controllable, duplicateable, focusable, and allows anonymity.
And it tells me something about you if your so uninterested in people. I happen to like the self expression of others. Especially the ones I admire or value in one way or another. If someone annoys you stop following them. It is very doubtful they will care or notice. Focusing a twitter ID on a topic or personal task is an excellent new idea on me. Might try that one.
Thank you,
(Big Hug) Ros. I’m following you. 🙂
Tried it once for a little while.
My first reaction to a few twits was
“Who the $x!&!! cares!!
Struck me as an inane waste of time.
There are just so many hours in a day.
You have to pick and choose what is essential for your business.
Unless someone can really show me how this builds business,
I’ll pass.
Rosalind,
Dan Thies called Twitter “a waste of electrons.” For me that was enough not to try and waste my time with it.
There’s no value, that would move my business forward, in knowing what most folks write on Twitter. Perhaps it’s just me, but announcing to the world that I’ve fed my cat, or put the sugar bowl in the refrigerator (again), just isn’t the level of privacy that I’d like to maintain in an online world.
I’ve never gotten into twitter fully. I pop in from time to time, see what’s going on, twitt a couple times, but always close it out soon after I log in.
I find it annoying that people simply log on to tell everyone what they are doing at that moment and then they leave. Or you post a question and no one decides to answer it even though there are always more than 5 people on when I log in.
I have heard a lot of my business friends say that twitter sends them a lot of traffic whenever they post a link. I’ve heard that the networking is positive. I haven’t seen much of this myself. Probably because I don’t use it a lot.
What I have seen is person after person saying how addicted they are to twitter. They sign up for things like twibit and are notified as soon as someone twitts…which is likely all of the time, depending on how large your following is.
I can’t see how twitter (when used often) doesn’t distract people from their work at hand. Such as forums or reading too many blogs…I find twitter to be a potential time pit if you’re into that social format.
I have a strong feeling that some of the people that use twitter and speak of how much they love it will soon be blogging about how they aren’t using that site any longer because it was eating up their time and they weren’t getting anything done.
Rosalind, I have been on Twitter only a few days longer than you, and I have found that it helps me keep more informed, and not just about the “I just had a bagel for breakfast” stuff. (Although I will confess to a slight smile when I read your tweet about force-feeding the cat. Been there, done that. ;o) Hope you are fully healed.) I read about what the people I know are working on, see their new blog posts and, yes, sometimes learn things about their lives that makes our connection stronger.
Some people use Twitter for keeping in touch with a group of friends, instead of email and other methods. Although it is not my primary means of communication, Twitter is a source of information and entertainment for me.
There are a number of ways to manage Twitter so that it does not overwhelm you and waste the day. Like just about anything else on the Internet, it can become a big time-waster if you let it.
I recently posted about how I use Twitter at http://cathystucker.com/i-am-all-a-twitter and I am going to follow up with a few posts on using it effectively to help my readers get the most out of Twitter. I see it as a tool that has value if you use it properly.
Oh, and I came here to read this post because I saw your tweet about it. So, it got you at least one reader today.
Cathy Stucker
Ros, I posted a blog titled “Oh, Twitter!” – which is what most folks say when they first get introduced to the Big-T.
http://www.MoneyPowerWisdom.com/oh-twitter/
All success
Dr.Mani
(I twitter as ‘drmani’)
Hi Rosalind,
I am doing a thorough study of the use of different social platforms and for me, I use Twitter to be the first to know about new information that is of interest to my current area of focus.
Right now I am interested in any news, links, tutorials, ectc. related to social networking, social marketing and social networks.
I browse the tweets of people and when I find a nugget, like your new blog post here, I’ll pop on over and digest the new information and comment where I can.
I tend to ignore tweets that are not on topic for what I am doing and if someone I follow is tweeting useless information then I stop following them. The goal, of course, being that I “fine tune” who I follow so that I end up with a bag of tweets that are useful to me on a daily basis.
Anyways, that’s how I use Twitter to enhance my business. It can take a little while to find the people you need to follow in your niche so follow the people that your mentors follow and then follow the people they follow and continuously refine your list until you have achieved a very interesting mix of tweeters (twits) that can help you grow, enhance and learn your own business.
It would be interesting to see how other people use Twitter and if they find it an enhancement or a distraction.