The 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 useless; that 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 and views as valid.

It’s a post that generates a decent amount of traffic here, and of course, web surfers who disagree with me.  Just this morning I received a comment from “Joe” in Atlanta:

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.

Here’s the thing: I really love that folks get so bent out of shape over the returns, etiquette, usefulness and pointlessness of social media – specifically, Twitter – especially on my blog.  My theory has always been, if you aren’t pissing someone off then you aren’t really doing anything.  At the the end of the day, we are all talking, venting, ranting, hating, loving, using and making fun of Twitter.  It’s everywhere. It’s a household name, though many folks talking about it have no clue what it actually is/does.

As I’ve said before, Twitter may jump the shark, but it’s not going to drown anytime soon.  You can embrace it and find a positive utility for it, or you can sit back and look forward to the day “someone is killed because of twitter.” I think we know which one “Joe” is going to do.

That said, PR peeps should keep in mind that it’s not the end of the world when folks like Joe aren’t fans of social media as long as you know what the Joe(s) ARE fans of. (Sorry about the dangling preposition, grammar nerds).

Effective communication is about reaching your public where they are; if they aren’t Twittering, don’t attempt to force it. Just find another way. And in the meantime, keep leaving comments on my blog. I enjoy them, even when you don’t like what I have to say!

*The second highest traffic generator to my site is the post about Maybelline nail polish, followed closely by a post about how I got to touch Steve Sullivan; go figure!

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