Hoot, Hoot, Are you really on Twitter, or Just a Ghost in the Shell?

I've been actively participating on twitter and other social networks for a while now.  And as I've spent time on these sites, I've been struck by how so many of the people, particularly in twitter seem to be more like robots who send out an unending flow of spam, usually in the form of tweets that have links to their blogs or websites, or through replies they send that include links to their services. I've seen a lot of this kind of twittering and I have come to wonder if there are living, breathing human beings on the other end, or just a robot who is programmed to spam away, with little regard or understanding of what the words social and networking actually mean. Now I'll admit I occasionally tweet about a new e-book or service with a link to my website and my blogs are automatically fed into my social networking sites as well, but with some of these people, all they post are links to their website. The focus is a constant bombardment of tweets designed to drive followers to their sites so that they can make some money off the people. I'm all for marketing your services and telling people about them, but not at the cost of establishing a genuine relationship with those people. Recently I learned about some twitter applications that allow you to schedule when you send your tweets, and it was very easy to connect the dots after I found out about these tools. I even had one person I know tell me that she writes all her tweets for the week on a Sunday, schedules them and then forgets about them. It made me wonder at that point if I should even continue to have a social media connection to this person, because I wasn't sure if she was ever on the other end, or if I was just interacting with a robot, programmed to spew out tweets about whatever was being offered by that person. That sounds pretty extreme, but is it really? I do think tools where you can schedule your tweets can serve some purpose in terms of keeping your social presence alive and well to your followers, but using them shouldn't be the majority of your strategy or even half of your strategy to reach out to your audience. A sane use of this technology might be, for example, scheduling tweets while you are leading a tour group in Europe, but once you'd finished doing the tour that day, checking in making comments and responses to people, outside of the scheduled tweet. It's easy to schedule tweets. You can schedule a bunch of tweets with links to articles, websites, etc, without providing any real level of interaction. And for some followers, that might be something they are perfectly comfortable with. At some point, however, people will begin to realize that there is no person behind those tweets, no relationship behind all of those promises of thousands of more followers, get wealthy off of affiliate marketing, and countless other phrases, complete with links, I've seen every day. Instead, what will be realized is that what's really behind all those tweets is a robotic presence that doesn't care about you, or your problems, or what you need. It just wants your money and everything else you are willing to give it. What really needs to be remembered about social networking is that its social and that you are networking. And a word which is related to both social and networking and is essential to the success so social networking is relationship. To really make twitter work, and any other social networking sites as well, you need to realize that you are building relationships, and through those relationships establishing value. You can't do that if you are never there! If you are only automating your tweets, you can't fully and effectively interact with anyone. This doesn't mean you can't use an application such as hootsuite, but you need to use it mindfully, without abusing it. Here are three tips to consider when automating your social networks: 1. Plan on devoting some time on social networking sites you are on. Spending time means you actually engage in the conversation. You get to know people. You comment on what they are writing about. You let them know you are a real human being and more importantly, you show them you care about what they are saying. 2. Automate your tweets carefully. If you find yourself posting a tweet with a link to a site on a consistent basis, automate it. This will save you time and effort and keep that tweet out there. Likewise if you are going on vacation and want to keep people informed of what you are doing, but also get away from social media for a little while, for that time period automate your tweets. Don't automate your tweets every week. Doing so cuts down on the effectiveness of social networking. It doesn't allow your followers to get to know you, and more importantly you don't get to know your followers. 3. Ask yourself what is compelling enough about your tweets to make them readable (clickable if they have a link). Then ask yourself if you automate those tweets, will people still read and/or click your tweet. Given enough time, people will eventually ignore your tweets if all they ever see is the same message. And to avoid that means you need to participate in the conversation, because participation creates spontaneity, which also creates relationships. By asking yourself what is compelling about what you write, you also focus on how you are interacting with people on your social networks.  So are you really on twitter?   2009-07-28T08:05:26Z

2009-07-30T17:22:52Z

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hoot-hoot-are-you-really-on-twitter-or-just-a-ghost-in-the-shell

2009-07-30T10:22:27Z

2009-07-30T17:22:52Z

Are you really on twitter or are you just a spamming fool with lots of links, but no presence?