If A Tweeter Tweets In A Forest…
Twitter cracks me up because I’ve found a lot of the conversation is centered around…Twitter. As if tweeting weren’t enough, we also have to talk about the fact that we’re doing it, how we’re doing it, how we can do it better, and how it’s going to change everything we’ll ever do for the rest of our collective lives. It’s gotten to the point where I consciously avoid tweeting about Twitter, just for a change of pace.
Having said that, I’m going to break my own rule and blog about it. Here’s the thing about social media: it is only a communication tool. Social media is not the message itself, but rather the mechanism for delivering a message. Not only that, social media is a tool for TWO-WAY communication. Which means, perhaps, that we should listen to our stakeholders and consumers as much as we talk (better yet: listen MORE than we talk).
The question that’s often skipped over when an organization makes the decision to jump on the social media bandwagon is WHY that organization should jump on in the first place. If it’s because everyone else is doing it, or because some Board member’s grandson is on Twitter and heard it was the next cool thing, then it’s not going to be successful. There has to be a reason for reaching out: to tell a story, spread a message, reach out to new audiences, connect with like-minded people or communicate with consumers.
After all, if you have nothing worthwhile to say, why would you say it to the whole world? No one sends out bulk mailings just to say “hi!” or writes press releases when there’s nothing to report on. The most intelligent communicators I know are the ones who keep their mouth shut when they have nothing to contribute.
For example: if you tweet for a nonprofit, don’t tweet about how nonprofits can tweet effectively. Instead, use that information and…tweet effectively. Be the example. Nobody likes “that guy” who talks just to hear the sound of his own voice…so don’t let your organization’s Twitter feed be “that guy.”
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