Each time I sit down with a new client I am confronted with a periphery of remarks about Twitter. The most profound questions so far are..
Who uses Twitter? Why use Twitter? and What value is Twitter to those who use Twitter?
The answer to these questions usually comes from explaining Who or What is populating Twitter. Here are just a few of the different characters who roam the columns of posts to Twitterville.
Logo People
It does not take long to run into the Logo People. Say about two seconds after logging onto Twitter you should see at least one or thousand of this tribe of misguided individuals (or teams of individuals as the case is now showing) who for some reason feel posting a logo of their company or a picture of their product boosts product, sales..or as the PR and Marketing firms they hire tell them..provides Brand Awareness.
Most of the Logos placed in their avatars are unfamiliar to mot of us but a few you will see as iconic brands. The question becomes..Is this person posting behind this logo for Real?
Some of the real people posting behind these logos, as the studies are showing, are very scared of showing their face and a few may have half legitimate excuses for posting a logo instead a photo. Their reasons are related to emotional scares still seething from someone stealing their identity.
Still, over all, the Logo People usually change to more mainstream Twitter methods of social media once they see the posting of a Logo does not get the volume of attention they would get if they showed a person’s face. The volumes of Logo People however does clog the channels of communication and compound the problems Twitter has especially if the Logo People carry a double identity and combine their efforts with the other characteristics other citizens of Twitterville use unwisely.
So why do Logo People use logos as their avatar? Studies are showing that most people using nothing but logos really truly buy into the muck they have been told that brand awareness is all they should be after. This was true back in the early 90’s but the kick in groan the world’s economy took in 2008 changed the brand awareness marketing approach forever. During a group discussion a person in the crowd summed it up clearly on why the Logo People are wasting effort… ”No Face…No Business”
Linksters
OH, yes, the ‘good ol boys and gals’ of Twitter who view Twitter as the information highway and the Links to whatever they are pitching become the Billboards along that highway. Linksters can show a person’s face or a logo or a cartoon character or just about anything imaginable since they could care less how they look to those they are aggravating by filling up the Twitter Feed with non-stop dribble. Many Linksters don’t know what they are doing to Twitter since they use third party apps that hit the Twitter feed like a volley of artillery. Most are not aware that RSS Feed setting has become so simple that over 90% of the Twitter Population is on the same Feed they are drawing the Links from, so their posting of Links makes their efforts irrelevant.
The good citizens of Twitterville scrabble to unfollow, block, notify Twitter of their spamming, as fast they can, but as soon as action is taken to stop the onslaught of worthless information, here they come from another account. Studies are indicating the rational behind this approach is coming from old school methods of marketing that is lead with the..if you pitch something to enough people someone is going to buy.
In a dozen or so conversation (short as they were) I found many Linksters received instruction to their insane method of marketing from one of the hundreds of ‘How to make $4000 a minute online’ type programs being held online and now filling hotel meeting room across the country.
Again, the damage these misguided individuals make to Twitter’s true value is measured in the number of people leaving Twitter. One of the comments I received that sums up how the citizens of Twitterville are reacting to Linksters was.. ”I think I have had enough trying to drink out of the fire hose of the Twitter feed”.
Quoters
The Quoters are a more passive bunch who use posting quotes from anyone as a subversive approach to drawing attention to themselves. As this method has a harmless approach it is the volumes of Quoters who roam the Twitter feed that causes the problem they generate.
Most of the quotes posted mean very littlie except to the Quoter and those quotes posted are usually a quote just made by someone a few seconds ago. Most quotes are lame and very unoriginal showing nothing of the Quoters real personality. Most post quotes thinking it adds value to what they are doing on Twitter when in actuality it is working against them.
Quoters can take on a Logo People identity and combine the quote with a Linksters method making them cover three of the preposterous methods of marketing on Twitter.
Studies are mixed on the value of Quoter’s efforts. Posting quotes does add value to a conversation but fire hose approaches of sitting back on a third party app and blasting away quotes does not work. Still, quoters are showing an increase in generating Followers, however, other studies contradict that the Followers generated are mostly coming from the BOT programs set up to generate Followers for newbies to Twitter who feel they have been left behind in their Twitter marketing.
Using Quotes is good and as mentioned does show a value to Twitterville if used moderately. Original Quotes hold the most value over a quote made by say…Adolph Hitler. The comment made to the Quoter approach showing how real people on Twitter treat Quoters.. ’Quoters are cute, but why do they just post quotes? Wouldn’t a conversation on Twitter work better?’
Narcissus
You have seen these Tweeters. Usually they are the icons of social media or from the First Adaptor Club who seem to feel conversation on Twitter is not worthy of their efforts. Other less iconic adapt this style of Tweeting for no other reason than it is what the icons are doing. This produces thousands of copy cat self absorbed individuals who post to Twitter and then run. They never respond unless the person is in their very SMALL A List of Followers.
The Narcissus generally post a lot of information and usually carrying a Linksters badge. They all have built a huge Following. Many times they will Following a large number of the people who are Following them, but conversation I have had with these people validate they are only Following these large numbers to balance out their Follow/Follower stats they are measured by.
Very rarely will the Narcissus break character and have a conversation or provide any greater value than they feel they have already made from gracing Twitter with their presence. They will NEVER reach out to anyone to start a conversation or reply to anything posted on Twitter.
Their value is questionable. They do usually provide inside information to something breaking in their field of interest or profession. However, interest outside that field they usually are avoid of value.
Since Twitter is drawing in more mainstream businesses and consumers many are not interested in the Narcissus information being posted. However, since Twitter is still the Techs who created Twitter’s playground these ‘Keep to Their Own’ will continue to be stroked and petted to keep pumping out their info without any regard to becoming a viable part of the community through interaction with Followers on a broad scale.
Big Boxsters
Naturally, the large businesses and corporation want in on the Twitter Phenom. However, it seems most of them know that they arrived at the Happy Hour party after the Last Call was made and obviously adapting every method of tweeting they can to catch up.
The Big Box (thus them being called Boxsters) companies have huge resources and can throw (still) large amounts of money towards a marketing campaign to MAKE their presence on Twitter work. That is work in the sense they now appear they have been at the party for awhile.
What they really have done is jumped in to posting large amounts of Tweets that only provides more clutter to the Twitter Stream. The Boxsters usually take on the Logo People look and see the Linkster method of tweeting as the easiest and fitting their style best. Studies are showing that the Boxsters presence on Twitter is causing a backlash effect since adding their efforts in with all of the other valueless posts just adds fuel to the concern the people they are trying to attract are leaveing Twitter..and most other forms of Social Networking.
The reaction many of the Boxsters take is to quickly setting up shop on Twitter. They do this from marketing studies showing a drop in consumer interest in Broadcast media and Print media. In the conversations I have had with the marketing heads of some of the Boxsters is the studies are not indicating people are moving away from TV, Radio, Newspapers and Magazines..it just shows those forms of marketing are not producing the sales as they did before. They assume that the interest must have moved online and they load all guns to shoot towards where they see consumer adctivity and Twitter is a huge easy target for them to hit. When in reality, the consumers on Twitter have the same apathy to the Boxsters online campaign as their offline endeavors.
The overall issue of why the broadcast and print media is not producing any sales is not because people are shopping online more..the reason is the economy. The comment that rings true concerning Boxsters on Twitter is reflected in.. ”Why do large corporations feel that if I am not interested in their product I saw on TV I am interested in hearing about on Twitter?”.
The message for the need to change is starting to be heard by Boxsters and they are beginning to breakdown their social media to a cleaner more trustworthy operational style of social media. More CEO’s of the Big Boxes are stepping out, posting their photo and chatting with people online..even though it is a selected predictable list of people they chat with. Many of the corporations are hiring social mediaist to handle their online image and be the company’s mouth piece. This is good, but there are still a large number of the corporations who have invested millions in Old Methods of marketing who feel they have not gotten their ROI yet so continue to use old methods of marketing in a world that does not accept it.
Celebrity
There are not as many of the Celebrity Types out on Twitter as there use to be but the ones out here produce enough content to really blur the screen of any computer. Celebrities are just that..people who are popular due to something they did or are doing in public that is crowd appealing. This could range form movie/TV stars, rock starts, professional athletes and overexposed business people.
Celebrities take on all forms of Twitter Citizenry. Sometimes they are talented enough to be a Logo People, Linksters, Quoter, Narcissus and Big Boxster at the same time. They hold true to all of the characteristics of each of the different Twitter identities. As you would expect they tend to be void of response. Sometimes they will reach out to someone @repling to them, but only if they actually know how to use Twitter.
Still, the pure number of celebrities Tweeting is growing and the volume of tweets they post is growing as they get support from seeing people following them. Their value to Twitter is purely for entertainment. Very seldom do Celebrities take on any role that produces general interest. It is their celebrity status people are after which just confirms the overall purpose of Twitter has nothing to do with commerce.
I usually get a comment stating.. ”if it was not for the Celebrities posting on Twitter I would see no entertainment value to Twitter at all”. Sad, but that actually makes sense.
Normal Folks
Naturally, the populations of Twitterville would not be complete without the folks who are residing on Twitter to do what Twitter was created to do…communicate in a conversation style to others who are likeminded. The majority of the citizenry of Twitterville are the Normal Folks. However, their numbers are herded around Twitter with their individual interests. Normal Folks are the peeps who reach out to other Normal Folks in @replies or ask a question of their Followers in hopes an answer will help others.
These are the consumers all of the other residences of Twitterville are after..or should be after. The Normal Folks are the sane crafty resourceful individuals who ‘Get It’ and know what Twitter is for. Do they have something to sell?..over 90% do. Do they pitch what they do on Twitter?..yes, but very discreetly.
Normal Folks are the real people of the internet who hold close to there being sanity in what they do. Their resourcefulness has lead them to find through asking others how to use Twitter and have adapted some sort of Social Media Manifesto that guides them through their day to day actions online. Marketing to Normal Folks is done outside Twitter where it fits in today’s change to a more operational social media. Unfortunately, (of fortunately as be the case) Normal Folks represent the millions of people who are buying a ticket out of Twitter to go to niche social networks where their energy and time is better spent. Their exit will result in all of the rest of the population to end up shouting at each other until Twitterville goes bankrupt. the comment best fitting Normal Folks was.. “Do these people realize the control they have over Twitter?”
Who and What is Twitter For?
A lot of questions come about from talking about Twitter. Is Twitter something worth businesses get involved with? If so..which businesses best benefit from being on Twitter? What style of marketing is the best for businesses who use Twitter? Or, Does any style of Marketing work on Twitter? …the questions go on and on and wind back up to..What is Twitter for?
Well, obviously Twitter has its purpose, but is it to promote a business need? The answer to this question comes with a fork tongue. For some businesses like entrepreneurial tech ventures Twitter is excellent since studies show that over 90% of the population of Twitter is Tech. However, Twitter will not and does not work form other types of businesses..no matter how much money is thrown at the effort made. This means the questions becomes..Who is Twitter For?
Most of the population of Twitterville go about their day walking the streets of Twitterville chatting with anyone and almost everyone they meet or see who makes a statement of common interest. What takes place causing this experience to be aggravating is the noise the misguided marketers of the world are making on Twitter.
Here is another way to look at it. Think of thousands of people attempting to walk down a busy street and walking with them are things, not sure if they are human or not, that are walking up into their face just shouting to anyone in hopes they will stop and buy something from them. Then all along the sides of the over crowded street are store fronts that may have something of interest but the noise from their hockers compounded with the thousands of other people standing around trying to get your attention from their attention, you never get to see what it is they are selling. While overhead is a never ending stream of information being shouted down at you all of which blocks you hearing the person you really need to talk to who is standing next to you asking..Hey, how is your day?
Twitter is becoming a complete wasteland of unfocused efforts by millions of people. To reside in Twitterville for any reason tests a person’s sanity. So the ultimate questions becomes…Why do you reside on Twitter? What value is Twitter to you? Do the few interactions with a few people really warrant the time and energy spent on Twitter, or would it be better spent someplace else?
The boundaries of Twitterville City Limits have been stretched beyond what is real and Twitterville has become a hustling bustling huge waste of time for the people who know how Social Networking really works. If it was not for the third party apps like Tweetdeck that allows a person to filter the noise there really would be little purpose for being on Twitter by anyone.
So why use Twitter?
The last of the questions I am hit with deal with searching for a reason to be on Twitter. And Why Am I Using Twitter?
This questions cuts to the true core of Social Networking that seems to be what is taking social media down a different road towards a more sane way of creating an awareness of something. The only true reason to be on Twitter is for the social interaction it was created to be part of providing. This can still be done but only if you use blinders to the fact that this same effort could be achieved in another arena.
Right now the only reason to use Twitter is for validation of a person’s existence, but is that enough to keep your passport to Twitterville current? It all comes down to how much time you have and is your time worth the little return received from residing in Twitterville. It could be your own existence would be a better place to be and invite those who feel the same to join you. It seems that the time used in building your own community would be better spent towards accomplishing your goals of making the public aware of your efforts than the time spent on Twitter shouting.
I listen to why someone is using Twitter before offering my answer to their questions about Twitter. It could be that their purpose for using Twitter is for adventure and Tomfoolery..if that is the case, Twitter is perfect for them. But if someone is looking for a place to marketing a niche or something of little interest to the population of Twitterville, well Twitter is becoming the place to not be for that.
Whatever your purpose is in life or business becomes the answer to why you would or would not use Twitter. If you are serious about business..well, there are other villas for you to explore..let me know how I can help.
