So tonight was the Utah Tweetup at Cowork Utah. Great place. Anyone looking to get away from the home office or just looking for a refreshing place to think, work…try Cowork Utah. It’s nice.
Anyway, I was on the ‘expert user panel’ at the event along with Janet Meiners Thaeler, Jesse Stay, Nate Moller and Ash Buckles. They are cool people and had some insightful thoughts. It was good that Cowork Utah brought a little diversity to the panel (me) because I was basically the only one NOT an seo/sem expert, social media consultant, pro blogger, etc. That’s how most of them make their living. Not me. I use Twitter mainly for personal enjoyment but also to evangelize Zinch. So my Twitter usage in some ways is very different than theirs.
Below are a few thoughts of mine…in no order at all. A few I shared while there at the panel…and a few thoughts were inspired by certain panel discussions.
How will Twitter effect traditional blogging?
Micro-blogging (twitter, tumblr, etc) will definitely change the face of traditional blogging. Janet said that her twittering has affected her blog post frequency (she’s spending more time on twitter). Twitter has definitely effectd my blog. If I can get my point across in 140 chars…why not. So I blog less.
Tweets are short, sweet and easy. 140 chars. Digestable. Efficient. Easy to write. Easy to read. It’s an all-around win-win for everyone. The world is moving faster and faster. What we used to have time for yesterday, we won’t tomorrow. Our patience is fading. Blogging will certainly still exist. But attention spans are much, much shorter with the introduction of microblogging. This will become the norm.
Jesse Stay argued that because of Twitter our blog posts will get longer. I think that’s crazy. Twitter proves that people want less, not more. I can understand why he said that though, he gets paid to blog. Though I disagree with him here, I think he is a talented and smart guy. I really like his SocialToo app.
Using Twitter to make money, to drive business.
To me twitter isn’t about making money at all. It’s about having conversations, making connections, networking, learning, and having fun. If twitter is a chore for you…or a job….don’t do it. Don’t talk to people just to talk. Talk cuz you want to. People will see right through it. A bunch of the panelists seem to be using it strictly for business. Nothing wrong with that, I guess. But for me, I think it’s a great social tool. It’s a great way to communicate and make real friends. Not for business or money. For life.
Don’t get me wrong…I think twitter can help business. It helps zappos; it helps comcast; it helps jetBlue; and of course it helps Zinch. But I really believe that for any business on twitter, it needs to be more about listening than about speaking. That’s how we are using it. Boxee does a great job at it too. I complained. They listened. They are constantly using it to improve. It’s masterful how they are using Twitter. Picture perfect. Sure they’ll give product updates and news here and there. But the majority of their communication are conversations with customers. Listening. Learning. Improving.
Any business (or person trying to drum up business) who just fills their twitter stream with information about themselves is doing it wrong. Listen more than you speak.
Tweeting. What to tweet.
Twitter’s business was based around the answer to one question: What are you doing? I believe people need to answer that question more. Seems like more and more people are ONLY tweeting links. Links to cool news stories. Links to their own businesses. Links to their own blog posts. Links links links. I think a little of that is fine. But I think it’s important that people mix in some what-are-you-doings. People are fascinated by people. People care about who you are and what you are doing…much more than you think. Lifecasting has become more popular than ever. Reality TV shows are still prevalent. People are interesting. Share yourself.
It’s important to find a good mix of what you tweet about. I think Guy Kawasaki is a good example of what not to do. He just links to all his alltop or Truemor stories. People still follow him. I do. But I think he’s abusing the relationship and pretty soon i’m gonna say enough is enough. I’d much rather hear the answer to the question, ‘what are you doing?’
Overall.
Twitter is a great tool. Everyone should use it. It’s the simplest content publishing tool out there. It’s real-time. It’s mobile. For business or personal, it’s a powerful platform to communicate.
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