Twitter is useless.
A friend of mine (swear it wasn’t me) was in a meeting pitching a few communications tactics to a group of technology folk. Bless ‘em.
Among her suggestions of targeted events, story ideas and a strong web presence came her idea to reach out to tech-savvy audiences and media via social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook.
The latter idea fell flat when the man at the head of the table declared:
Twitter is useless. No one cares ‘what you are doing.’ It is has no impact on business.
(sigh)
I was shocked that someone so very smart and tech-ish could just write off a communications channel like that. I kind of feel sorry for him.
I’ll admit that I’ve dealt with clients who have never heard of Twitter and getting them to my comfort level with it and other social networking vehicles is quite tough. But I’ve yet to hear anyone who already knows about Twitter just flat out call it “useless.”
“Not appropriate for our target audience,” sure. But “useless”?
You, techy-sir, are smarter than that and you are paying this gal to tell your story in the most strategic, results-generating way possible. Why do you torment her?
The very essence of public relations is to focus on a message and communicate that message to the intended audience via whatever communication channel that public uses/views as valid. I’ll tell a client’s story with smoke signals if that’s what I’ve got to do.
So, if even a handful of your audience is on Twitter then it cannot be called useless.
It’s not that I’m in love with Twitter (wait, actually, I sort of am), it’s that I’m not comfortable with blanket generalizations made by smart people. Where would we be if we used these new media tools only for the exact question they were created to answer?
Twitter is a HUGE communication and research vehicle for me. I use it to poll opinion, start debates among my politically passionate friends and even glean column ideas and research for clients.
But that’s just me. Is Twitter a useful business tool for you?
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I’ll admit, I’ve yet to uncover any great benefit that my clients can gain through Twitter. It has more to do with the nature of my clients than Twitter itself, though. The main reason I keep up with it is to see how the medium evolves – so when the time is right, I’m not (and the client is not) left behind.
So I understand those who don’t quite get the relevancy of Twitter (and Facebook, etc.). “Useless” – maybe, but for how long?
Um… Absolutely! Twitter is fabulous. For heaven sakes Obama has a Twitter account. I bet that sad little twitterless man is still on dial up
[...] Twitter is useless. [...]
Here’s what I tell people: Put a Twitter feed on your company website or blog. That makes your website updated more often. Google loves fresh content, and your search rankings will improve, increasing traffic. We do it at my work (@frankbest) and our rankings have never been higher. (Of course, that’s not all we did. We have a whole search marketing division.)
Problem is, you can lead a client to Twitter, but you can’t make him tweet.
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[...] some folks find FlackRabbit by Googling flack, public relations, Twitter is Useless and the like. But this guy took the road less traveled by. And you know what they say about that. [...]
“Twitter is useless”
Just another way to track you and your habits. wait until someone is killed because of twitter. it’s inevitable… I thought only teens used it. Who cares if obamma has one. So he can tweet how screwed things are. We already know that.
I can careless what anyone other then my family is doing. For that we have these neat things called phones….
Twitter is useless is the forth suggestion when you search for twitter. What does that tell you seos?
If we cant comment on how lane a twit is then whats the point?
“Twitter is useless”
[...] post that leads the most* Google and Bing searchers to this blog is my October 2008 rant, “Twitter is Useless.” In it, I say that if even a handful of your audience is on Twitter then it cannot be called [...]
I really want to believe that Twitter is useful for businesses but I have yet to hear one concrete example of how Twitter is a viable marketing channel. Sure, people can tweet about your company or product, but how can you control the message, measure the effect, or grow an audience?
Twitter may not be completely useless but it’s gotta be one of the most overrated things I’ve come across.
Hi Joester,
Thanks for stopping by FlackRabbit and taking the time to comment. Agreed: making a true business case for Twitter is a tough sell; no matter how many celebs or airlines make news with it.
Personally though, Twitter has put me in contact with total strangers I now consider friends; it’s raised awareness of my blog to a small set of loyal readers; it’s even brought national recognition to my former employer, HallStrategies.com.
Twitter is overrated, sure. But useless? Not hardly.
Margie´s last blog ..Three things to remember when relocating for a job
Margie, I think you helped me clarify Twitter’s business utility: its value is in creating potential high-touch, high value customers.
It is NOT, however, a mass marketing vehicle. Here’s why.
1) For it to mean anything, you need to build a sizable following. Unless you’re Oprah, that will take a lot of time and effort in terms of posting interesting tweets worthy of following.
2) Then you have to assume that your followers will even read your tweet. That’s a challenge because heavy Twitter users (those most likely to follow you) are also the most likely to be following a lot of people, making your message less precious.
3) Then you have to hope that one of those followers will actually behave in a way that generates business (tell a friend, buy a product, etc.).
So yes, I suppose it’s possible that Twitter can be useful for businesses, especially if getting one or two key customers is important for you. But in terms of getting a mass audience that converts (i.e. drives business results), I can’t imagine Twitter’s effort-to-results ratio to be worth it.
All said, I could be wrong. If anyone out there has a concrete example of Twitter moving the needle for a business, I’d love to learn how.
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I think the main reason twitter gets a bad rap is due to personal use. There are many average Joes and Janes that simply put what is on their mind at that current state in time; no offense if you are one of them, but NO ONE CARES….NO ONE.
I personally think if facebook, myspace, or any other social site upgraded their ‘status update’ feature, they could EASILY make twitter obsolete.
For businesses, getting your name out is the best way to grow your business, and why not use twitter as another form of doing this; it’s not going to hurt you.
I just get upset with people, my friends included that feel it’s a necessary tool to let their friends know their current thoughts on why they don’t like the rain outside.
Also on a more personal note, I find it so terribly sad that people (mainly celebrities) hire other people to update their twitters for them. I don’t care which celebrity you are, we do NOT need to know that you are at java house sippin’ your favorite mocha drink. And to be honest I lose respect for celebrities that not only use this service, but actually offer some one else money to operate it for them.
Personal rant done. For businesses, yes I can see a potential in reaching clients that are familiar with this form of communication; but businesses is just about where twitter should be kept with. I mainly just wrote to highlight the fact that all the negative feedback from the program comes from personal use; and this is all simply my opinion