SociaLight Media Blog

Twitter Update

On Friday, the People Search funtion of Twitter was removed, and I can’t imagine why.  It was one of Twitter’s core tools, how else are you supposed to find people? Now, the only ways to find new people are to go through everyone who your friends are following or to do a regular search and scroll through to find the actual person’s Twitter account.

Not really sure why they would purchase Summize to enhance their in-tweet search functionality earlier this year, only to eliminate a possibly more important function of actually connecting with other people. It is a social network for pete’s sake.

And there you have it. Up until now, the most effective use of Twitter for business has been as a customer service quality control (hats tipped to Comcast, Zappos, etc.).  Here is a great example of a (huge) company listening to Twitterers’ tweets - Johnson & Johnson - about a new ad campaign and shutting it down in a matter of 48 hours.

Johnson & Johnson was attempting to build a Motrin campaign around a shared experience among women: childbearing and raising, and the pain it brings.  Apparently, J&J played the angle that women treat their young as fashion accessories, and that having a baby slung across their shoulder makes them look like an “official mom.” What’s interesting is that, without a doubt, J&J did some serious consumer research to arrive at these conclusions about women’s motives; why, then, did it encounter such swift and harsh recoil from that very market segment? Perhaps because there are things that may be true, but for which people don’t want to be glorified for.  I’m not saying that all, or even most, women feel that their children give them some clout in whatever community they belong to, but some must, or J&J wouldn’t have built an entire ad campaign around it.

What’s great about social media, and in this case Twitter, is that all of these people who felt attacked, called out, or insulted, were able to speak out, globally, and J&J listened.  Mommy Twitterers with thousands of followers were outraged and outspoken about the Motrin ads, and some even went cross-social-media and published YouTube videos (this one is called Motrin Ad Makes Moms Mad - 21k views)

This is so great; genuine conversation between Brand and Consumer. This was what my first ever post was about. Two-way communication. The ad industry is no longer about push, push, push. Consumers can talk internationally, instantaneously and companies are actually listening and acting.  Is it weird that this story makes me feel warm and fuzzy?

There are virtually no ways to misuse Twitter for personal use. Anyone who doesn’t like how you’re using it can just stop “following” you - so ignore them.  However, there are a whole slew of ways to misuse Twitter for businesses, both small and large.  Setting up a Twitter account for your business and then never tweeting is one. So is only tweeting about your brand and products.

Social media is about creating conversation with your consumers; consumers won’t follow your tweets if they are simply advertisments. One of the great tips that I’ve read from Chris Brogan (a social media superstar) is to ignore the famous Twitter prompt “What are you doing?” and instead answer “What has your attention?”  This promotes the sharing of relevant information among a community of brands, customers, users, etc. and can establish your company (or you, personally) as an authority in a field. Share articles, news, funny and interesting happenings that are related to your business - people will listen! Start “following” people that are hubs (people with lots of followers) to get your messages out to the largest array of people.

Comment on others’ tweets by using the @username function, use 1-to-1 messaging feature, share “Tiny URLs” with news about your industry, initiate polls and get opinions, and use the Twitter Search to keep tabs on people’s tweets about your industry and your company.  These are some of the fundamental ways to use Twitter correctly, and when I meet with clients to discuss the art of microblogging and Twitter, they always hit the ground running!  How do you Twitter? Tell us at blog.socialightmedia.com