TWITTER - THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY
So, just as I'm getting the hang of blogger! Stefan, in his intimate wisdom decides to throw twitter into the mix! Man alive! Initially, I must confess that it felt like herding cats, However, I persevered, and ladies and gentlemen below is a link to my twitter page complete with tweets from yours truly! Quietly smug truth be told.
Remarkably I now have 5 followers, they are going to be sorely disappointed because hand on heart, once this social media malarkey ends, I have no intention of tweeting. Why? Well let me assure you that its not because I'm a creature of habit, or adverse to anything new, a dinosaur that remains in comfort zone and sticks to what is familiar! Far from it, twitter simply does not fulfill a need within me. Twitter the current darling of the social media networking community is no love of mine.
Now we all know how annoying that can be, but equally, at times entertaining! In this blog, I intend to navigate through what is good, bad and ugly about twitter. In order for me to conclude that twitter was no love of mine, harsh but true, I had to at first conduct my own market research, a little homework if you will. I chose a subject close to my heart, windsurfing, a passion. What information could I gleam from twitter about this watersport. Could twitter add value.
Now this won't take long! I searched #windsurfing on twitter this brought up all tweets new and old that had been posted by avid tweeps. Predominantly pictures of members on boards, or links to windsurfing destinations. I stumbled across some interesting tweets regarding the Olympics, twitter would have been a useful media tool during the games in order to keep abreast of the medal table et al but as for it being useful to me as a learning tool, I'm afraid that it remains leagues behind you tube.
But twitter was never a contender for you tube, it is very much a different beast. Whats it all about?
Barry Collins from alphr 5 Mar 2009 said this of the micro blogging sites' success:
1. Simplicity
2. Brilliant way of breaking news
3. Stars interact with their audience
4. Immediacy
5. 140 characters makes you think about what you're saying
6. Accesible - Anyone can do it
On the flip side, Barry Collins also had this to say of the presentation ( The page layout)
"The site looks like your dad built it, in between putting up shelves and watching the rugby"
I'm inclined to agree, visually twitter is rather haphazard! Take a look at the the short video below purely for entertainment! Seems I've been spending my time under a rock ....... all will become clear!
Some surprising and light hearted facts in that short clip. I can see how in today's financial climate and economic downturn how Twitter would appeal to retailers. Why pay for advertising when social media and micro blogging sites could do the hard work for you and for free. In addition companies and retailers would see what the the general consensus thought of their product or service. There's no holding back or pulling punches in the face less world of open source where one can hide behind their own critique without fear of reprisals. Also as television programmes favour live broadcasting rather than pre recorded broadcasting, twitter plays a key role in allowing viewers to comment on current affairs in real time.
What of the negatives? the ugly side. We could cover cyber bullying, fake accounts, twitter squatting et al but I dont intend to . Instead let me introduce you to cyber spamming techniques on twitter. Tweettornado a term used to describe a commercial spamming tool. "techcrunch.com" wrote a piece discussing how twitter could be manipulated. "....... a way of offering despised spammers a way to create an unlimited amount of twitter accounts and add unlimited amount of followers. The ability to automatically update all accounts with an identical message makes twitter the ideal tool of spammers. Tweettornado capitalized on a missing security link in the twitter registration process. Valid e mail account was not required when registering a new account"
In truth, all things can be manipulated. We are all open to hackers and spammers no matter how tight our personal online security is. They will always find a loop hole, a way in.
To sum up, its not all bad, just not for me. Twitter allows the user to post what is happening right now "Just back from the Gym", "Just had a slice of cherry pie", "Basra has just fallen". A platform that gets the news out to audiences with immediacy. For the narcissistic seeking ego massages and people with smart phones surgically glued to the palms of their hands, I can see how tweeting could become addictive, I however, am stepping away ..... In the time its taken me to write this blog, I have a further 2 new followers on my twitter page! Madness!!!! That makes 7. Who are these people?...
Thanks for reading.
Hi Llinos, An Excellent write up - I agree whole heartily with your comments - I only use twitter for work and at conferences !!! It does not full me full of joy but lots of people still use it - each to their own i guess
ReplyDeleteHi Llinos. Really informative, a frank and honest blog, your own personal appraisal and investigation of Twitter. Agree with all your comments and dismissive asides. Like you, and as Stefano admits in his comment above, Twitter - beyond the cosy confines of our Social Media class - just ain't for me. Brilliant blog. No wonder you're attracting a crowd of followers. How many you got now? All the best, Terence.
ReplyDeleteThis is where social network marketing excels at, allowing people to extend their message across, sharing it within linked networks and so on.
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