To Tweet or Not to Tweet
By Natalie Boike
“All the little birds on Jay Bird Street love to hear the robin go ‘tweet, tweet, tweet.’”
Today’s social media outlets have forever changed Bobby Day’s 1958 song “Rockin’ Robin.” The site is marketed as “a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?” In case you’re not familiar with the Twitter craze, you should know: Answers must be under 140 characters in length and can be sent via mobile texting, instant message or the Internet.
This tool does seem like a great way to keep up with acquaintances without a large commitment of time or resources. It didn’t take long for business to come on board and develop other Web sites and applications around twitter (i.e. http://tweetscan.com/). Many other organizations have begun to use twitter as a marketing tool–the most successful example of which is commonly cited as Zappos.com.
Another success: Just last month (April 23) Vice President of Brand at The Current Network Jordan Kretchmer–twitter username @Jkretch–was one of the first to post what has been dubbed a TwitteRFP on the site twerbose.com. His company is searching for a full-service ad agency. “I have 5 empty slots on the distribution list and am on the hunt for creative agencies who also live social media,” he wrote.
The response has been impressive. Many agencies responded via twitter. BG Creative used their blog to explain why they’re making a pitch. 22squared created a press release and then held an online brainstorm session for CurrentTV. Many more people are simply twittering about the TwitteRFP process. @peternoll says he’s “thinking what my twitter resume would look like, after reading: Current TV made ad agencies submit entries via Twitter to be their agency.”
After the TwitteRFT deadline elapsed, Kretchmer posted another twerbose.com entry saying, “There are 5 agencies on this list that we either didn't know, or wouldn't have considered before this process. And we think that's really cool.” The use of twitter in this case has been not only been beneficial for The Current Network, but it’s also provided exposure for smaller ad agencies that otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity to land such a large client.
Just as interesting as the success stories is the dark side to all this twittering. When someone’s personal life and professional life collide, there can be negative ramifications. Due to the transparency of the Internet, employers can turn to any social network site to learn more about the people who work for them. In the “Cicso Fatty story,” someone tweeted about her hesitation over accepting a new job and the potential employer saw it. I doubt the offer stayed on the table for long. That’s just one example.
I think the success of Twitter depends on how it’s used. To tweet or not to tweet, what’s your decision? Why and how are you using twitter? What about IBM Systems Magazine; would you be interested in following us on twitter?
I say do not tweet. Twitter is nothing more than a cyber herd movement with a lesser purpose than facebook or multiply.
A site that is built around one question, “What are you doing?” is potentially one of the most clever creations, but it seems to be geared towards people without important things to do except update the world on their whereabouts.
While cyber technology continues to advance, it’s consequently robbing humanity of the human relations.
Caroline: EngineeringDaily.net
Posted by: 1ConcernedEngineer | Jun 09, 2009 at 05:21 PM
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Posted by: Jenna | Jun 23, 2009 at 05:23 PM