Prompted by the article “The Twuth About Twitter” written by Bob Bly, I thought I take the time share my views about Twitter.
Until a few weeks ago, I was on the Twitter bandwagon. For several months I followed the advice of those who are more Twitter-savvy than I and maintained a Twitter presence (in addition to my Facebook and LinkedIn presences).
There is so much talk about connecting and conversing with your Twitter followers, but I just don’t see that. I hear things like “join in the conversation” all the time. With Twitter, I just don’t see how that’s possible. First, there is the 140 character limit; it’s hard to say something of value in a short amount of real estate. And when you do reply to something, the recipient may have no idea what you are tweet you are referring to. So where’s the conversation???
In my opinion, Twitter is the internet version of radio/TV commercials, or so it has become in the marketing world. Tweet a link to your product. Tweet a special promotion. Tweet a blog post. This is all advertising—ONE WAY COMMUNICATION. It is not a conversation, which requires more than one person (unless of course, you are talking to yourself). So when the experts say “Twitter’s all about the conversation,” I just don’t buy it. It’s free advertising, plain and simple.
So is Twitter an effective marketing tool? It could be. My thought is this: tweet your products, promotions, articles, etc., but don’t waste your time trying to create a dialogue with followers. Twitter is too cumbersome to use as a communication tool. Instead, use a Facebook Fan Page to converse with current and potential customers. The interface is designed for conversations and is easy to use—this tool is worth the time investment.
