Defending Twitter
Now here's the deal. This post is going to suck. No attention to grammar. No smooth segues. No cloying humor. And forget a tidy tie-in at the end. It seems I'm addicted to twitter and don't have time to be bothered by the particulars of a blog anymore. The world out there is spinning and churning and scrolling while I'm stuck in this little box. I feel... so... isolated.
Which is why it perplexes me that anyone (especially someone in the business of COMMUNICATING) could have two bad words to say about twitter. It's the greatest thing since sliced facebook.
But apparently Bob Hoffman (The Ad Contrarian), CEO of Hoffman/Lewis San Francisco isn't hitching a ride on this freedom train.
"How the narcissistic keep in touch with the feckless"
is his personal take on this whole newfangled toy the kids are playing with. http://tinyurl.com/cdhn8j. Hmmm. By his own admission his opinion is founded on... ahem... two bold encounters. But he claims psychologists support his observations, so it must be right.
Why yes, it's absolutely logical. That someone who isn't active on twitter would look from the outside and peep in like an octogenarian listening in on high school chatter. Tsk! Tsk!
Or that someone who's dedicated their career to the study and treatment of mental health disorders would dance in glee over the prospect of a new "ailment/addiction/syndrome" suffered by millions of people... who by happenstance love talking about themselves. Match made in heaven.
So yeah, a guy who doesn't get twitter (or get on it for that matter) and a group of PhDs whose whole existence (and Mercedes payments) hinge on VERBAL twitter are going to pound the gavel? I think not.
My two things about twitter:
1. I don't care if half the people on twitter are narcissistic and the other half are cross-dressers. THEY ARE THE CONSUMER AND THIS IS WHERE THEY LIVE. This is who they are, and the job of the marketer/brander/ad guy is to figure out what's valuable to them and what will motivate them to connect with a brand.
2. Twitter turns conventional media on its head. For that matter it's turning facebook (and google!) on its head. Think of the record companies and their reaction to new media: They're so attached to their 50 year-old business model they don't see opportunity when she comes knocking at the door in the middle of the night with a bottle of Jameson and a box of Trojans.
Okay, here's one more thing:
3. For every cool old ad guy that's drinking from the twitter cup, there's another old ad guy that's feeling a bit squirmy about a medium where a corporation doesn't control the content, a corporation can't use tired analytics to measure ROI, and a corporation doesn't write the monthly retainer check. Of course he's not going to like twitter! Or those pesky kids who use it.
Twitter haters, RIAA executives... what's the difference. The world is changing and they're about to become obsolete. The ones that will still be standing in 5/10 years are the ones that realize the consumer really, truly is RIGHT. And not in a lip service kind of way. The consumer is right because the consumer finally has control over the options. Twitter being one of them. A big one of them.
Methinks squirmy ad guys should embrace what the world embraces. Learn to love what you don't understand. Face down what scares you. (It's called GROWTH.)
And this is where I'd normally throw in some quippy little kicker of a wrap-up but that would take an extra five minutes. And a lot can happen on twitter in five minutes.
(Why are you still here??? Get back there!)
Which is why it perplexes me that anyone (especially someone in the business of COMMUNICATING) could have two bad words to say about twitter. It's the greatest thing since sliced facebook.
But apparently Bob Hoffman (The Ad Contrarian), CEO of Hoffman/Lewis San Francisco isn't hitching a ride on this freedom train.
"How the narcissistic keep in touch with the feckless"
is his personal take on this whole newfangled toy the kids are playing with. http://tinyurl.com/cdhn8j. Hmmm. By his own admission his opinion is founded on... ahem... two bold encounters. But he claims psychologists support his observations, so it must be right.
Why yes, it's absolutely logical. That someone who isn't active on twitter would look from the outside and peep in like an octogenarian listening in on high school chatter. Tsk! Tsk!
Or that someone who's dedicated their career to the study and treatment of mental health disorders would dance in glee over the prospect of a new "ailment/addiction/syndrome" suffered by millions of people... who by happenstance love talking about themselves. Match made in heaven.
So yeah, a guy who doesn't get twitter (or get on it for that matter) and a group of PhDs whose whole existence (and Mercedes payments) hinge on VERBAL twitter are going to pound the gavel? I think not.
My two things about twitter:
1. I don't care if half the people on twitter are narcissistic and the other half are cross-dressers. THEY ARE THE CONSUMER AND THIS IS WHERE THEY LIVE. This is who they are, and the job of the marketer/brander/ad guy is to figure out what's valuable to them and what will motivate them to connect with a brand.
2. Twitter turns conventional media on its head. For that matter it's turning facebook (and google!) on its head. Think of the record companies and their reaction to new media: They're so attached to their 50 year-old business model they don't see opportunity when she comes knocking at the door in the middle of the night with a bottle of Jameson and a box of Trojans.
Okay, here's one more thing:
3. For every cool old ad guy that's drinking from the twitter cup, there's another old ad guy that's feeling a bit squirmy about a medium where a corporation doesn't control the content, a corporation can't use tired analytics to measure ROI, and a corporation doesn't write the monthly retainer check. Of course he's not going to like twitter! Or those pesky kids who use it.
Twitter haters, RIAA executives... what's the difference. The world is changing and they're about to become obsolete. The ones that will still be standing in 5/10 years are the ones that realize the consumer really, truly is RIGHT. And not in a lip service kind of way. The consumer is right because the consumer finally has control over the options. Twitter being one of them. A big one of them.
Methinks squirmy ad guys should embrace what the world embraces. Learn to love what you don't understand. Face down what scares you. (It's called GROWTH.)
And this is where I'd normally throw in some quippy little kicker of a wrap-up but that would take an extra five minutes. And a lot can happen on twitter in five minutes.
(Why are you still here??? Get back there!)
posted by Michelle Tripp at
5:19 AM
12 Comments:
Have nothing useful to add just wanted to acknowledge a great little piece before I shot back over to Twitter :)
It's really easy to dis twitter if you only give it a day or two and see only tweets about breakfast or naps. I stuck with it, though, and I'm glad I did. Through it I've discovered countless useful links and received valuable things from brands (cool guitar lessons from Gibson, for instance.) Better still, by following various profs I've filled my head with useful research and links for free. Finally, it's a place where, as you said, consumers have the voice. That's only going to evolve, and it's high time it did. Finally, I don't see how a creative person can't enjoy the challenge of expressing an idea in 140 characters.
Thanks, Fred! You make an awesome point about twitter... how could a creative person not love the challenge of the 140-character box. You could write a whole blog about that! ;)
(PS. Send me an @michelletripp so I can find you!)
Brilliantly said! Love the rant.
I hate old skool ideas that squash innovation...backing it up with numbers and PHDs doesn't make an opinion right.
I'm addicted to Twitter...as I've learned how to use it. It's my primary source for news and trends. It's like a filtered index. :)
Great Post and Insights. I never really understood Blogging until I found Twitter. I thought blogs where those things in my Google reader. Now I have Three of my own. I rarely if ever updated my status on Face Book and still seldom do. Twitter is a completely different platform. The utilities and Information I have found through links and networking have completely changed the direction of my marketing model. I am now a new subscriber to your blog. Thanks for sharing.
I am NOT a twitter hater. I am new in it and I am asking my Twitter Question of The Day:
What is the difference between a message out of 30’000 followers and a message out of «Everyone»?
If I am following 30‘000 people – is there any difference to «following» the «Everyone»? No. The stream of posts is so vast, so time consuming for sorting out.
I am following about 60 people, each one of them handpicked as far this was possible (time). And yet – so much twittering without any use for me.
May be it is a question of learning how to find the big fish in the midst of mud and shallow water ...?
May be Twitter is like an open telephone line: We hear the world whispering. How to filter?
And, still more important: How to link into this stream of millionfold voices? So that my voice can be heard? By those for whom I could be useful.
Isn’t there a huge wastage – like in any other medium of advertisement too?
Questions ...
Excellent take. The "narcissistic" comment highlights how off the mark the Twitter criticism is. I'm not on Twitter to talk about me, me, me. I'm on Twitter to talk about things I care about--things I would talk to you about in a blog post or in person. It's not narcissism; it's networking, advertising, and activism.
There are some companies playing it smart and are monitoring TwitterSearch for keywords and company names and reaching out to offer customer service, or advice, or deals. I've tweeted about issues I've had with Firefox, my brand-name camera, etc. and I have received an @tweet from a representative for that particular company, helping me solve my dilemma after a few simple questions. Booyeah.
Yes, it is more of a personal effort to reach out, but that is what it takes these days. You can't force Brand Fanaticism, you have to nurture it. Let the bloggers, tweeters and ranters push your brand, encourage them, unite them. And Twitter is just one tool that should be in their toolbox.
This is fantastic, I whole-heartedly agree. The fact that I tweeted a song I was listening to and found that the artist himself was following me a few hours later created an amazing connection and I'm much more likely to purchase more of his music now. No other medium I know of has that effect.
thanks michelle! have become so involved on twitter i am taking it personally when people grouse it's for idiots. i've checked the "everyone" stream now and again and never saw anything of interest so if that's what they're going by, ok, get it. but what about the rest of us? the big readers, the people revolving ideas, the true conversationalists, the types who have so much of value to share? i live abroad and in isolation and feel twitter is a godsend.
my FB status today: "thinks Twitter is the new partisan politics. Bash or ignore at your risk."
@thandelike
Hey Michelle! Having just jumped on the Twitter bandwagon I have to say I agree and enjoyed reading your opinions! Thanks for sharing! Cheers! ~M~
Love this, Michelle. Got on Twitter about 3 months ago and cdn't be bothered with just-joined FB. It's really fun to watch all the hoopla lately, but from my humble perspective in addition to enjoying the quick&dirty style of it, Twitter also "works" for me better than any other social media I've toyed with. This article is very helpful in filling in my vast lack of education and experience.
Best,
@ellifordyce
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