Bill Hanifin
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In the midst of the 23rd Annual Card Forum last week, I received a tweet that pointedly asked “Everyone is Tweeting, But is Anyone Listening?”
It came from my friend Jill McBride, who is well versed in the loyalty marketing business, and runs a well respected public relations firm based in Cincinnati. We had both noticed that the Twitter channel is increasingly a one-way broadcast medium which was essentially my response to her tweet.
My observation is that Twitter is like standing by a fast moving stream and watching the debris float past you. You tend to ignore most of it, but occasionally can reach out and grab something of value. If you’re excited about what you found, you can share it with friends by Re-Tweeting. For those things you’re not so sure about, you can mark them as favorites and decide what to do about them later.
People constantly ask me if investing time in Twitter is “worth it”. I have to frame my answer in a description of how I use Twitter. For me, it’s a business tool and I am satisfied to use it both as a broadcast channel for my own content and other content that I find of interest from those I follow.
Another view of Twitter is to see it as a highlight reel of mashed up RSS feeds from your business contacts. If you follow “X” people in your area of business interest, you’ll probably see articles, news and insights that are shared to make the Tweeter look as if they are in the know. No one I know Tweets irrelevant stuff, at least not intentionally. Most everyone is doing their best to share relevant content and insights that are intended to be accretive to your knowledge base.
Then there is the listening issue. During Card Forum, there were about 200 tweets posted by a handful of Tweeple over 3 days. About 60-70% of the flow originated from 4 accounts (I combined accounts of different names that were clearly part of one organization). One of these accounts, ironically the second most prolific, had no profile and appeared to be activated just to participate in the conference.
Affinion, Colloquy (et als), Citi, MasterCard were all present and the conference organizers, PaymentsSource jumped in on Day 2 to share some good quotes from the day’s sessions. I was there too, but logistics limited me to less sharing than I had planned.
Looking at the flow of messaging during the conference, it did seem to be mostly about broadcast. Inclusive of some re-tweeting that went on, few conversations were sparked. I shared a description of social media tools in the context of baseball some time ago and pegged Twitter as the “groupie” channel. I’m not so sure now since I would think groupies would be chattering away, comparing notes and making more noise.
Does this change my opinion about Twitter or tempt me to back away? Nope. It does highlight that Twitter deserves just so much investment of time and money, because if few people listen, then it is just a new form of broadcast media that was supposed to becoming obsolete as Consumer 2.0 becomes more influential.
The one caveat to this opinion is that Twitter does mirror real life in one way. There is a small group of people among my Twitter world who continually engage and encourage conversations around posts. This demonstrates they are not only posting, but reading, listening and interested to contribute towards a greater goal.
The Pareto rule interpreted by Twitter usage probably means that 5% of users spark 95% of the conversations. That in itself makes Twitter worthwhile for business people seeking a slight edge in a fast moving world.
What are your thoughts?
