What's really funny about Twitter

Having entered the Twitterverse a few months ago, I now think I'm sufficiently well informed to make a few observations about it. In the spirit of social media, I won't hesitate to do so.

Twitter's a lot like chat, except for the fact that it lacks a lot of chat's real-time functionality and the 140-character limit is a very real limitation (even though you can expand it to 240-characters using Big Tweet, which splits your posts into two but at least labels them 1/2, 2/2). The other very real limitation is the fact that you're forced to read from bottom to top, which is unnatural and disconcerting. The really positive trends though are that fewer folks on Twitter are hiding behind anonymous screennames, the discourse is - for the most part - highly civilized, and much of the information provided is not only timely, it's extremely valuable.

Many of the Twitterati (shall I define this term as Twitter stars? the most ubiquitous Twitter users?) are precisely those who were most disdainful of chat and most dismissive of its potential as a business app: geeks, journalists, and PR folks. Having attended a few moderated sessions on AOL, I've known since 1996 that the ability to bring people from around the world together to learn, comment and brainstorm in a text-based format was not only a cost effective but also a brilliant idea. Glad the rest of you are catching up. :)

But some of the Twitterati seem to have missed the point of social media entirely. For these folks, it's all about who's following them, not about the two-way exchange of information and ideas and the wonderful things that can result from the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. A respected British tech journalist Tweeted this morning that he had reached the 2000-followers mark, and seemed very pleased about it. Four hours later, he had 2009 followers - and was following a mere 145 people. I think we probably have to pardon him for not quite getting it: in his business, it's still all about having an audience and a following.

Some of the social media evangelists who update everyone on every cup of coffee they drink, every plane they catch, and every meeting they have, have revealed a fundamental lack of understanding of what should underly the use of social media tools: a solid grounding in what constitutes effective public relations - and marketing. One in particular seems to believe the old adage that all publicity is good publicity, and when he found himself at the centre of a controversy, continued to fan the flames by posting everything said about him and rallying his acolytes to do the same. The good news is that this will make an excellent case study in social media crisis communications. The bad news is that the discerning will have decided the effort of weeding out his wheat from his chaff is not worth it, which is a pity, because there's actually quite a bit of wheat there.

Others have demonstrated real leadership in the social media space, as well as a fundamental understanding of how important it is to take the high road in issues management and crisis communications. It's not fair that people say nasty things about you, blame you for things you haven't done, and supply their own interpretations of the facts. The sad truth is that if you engage on the mud-slinging level and repeat negative allegations in an attempt to refute them, you will only reinforce the negative things being said about you, appear to be whining, and, ultimately, alienate your supporters as you keep flogging that dead horse.  

Here's another perspective and someone else's tips on how not to use Twitter.

And here's a question: if you delete your Twitter account, will all your Tweets vanish? Or will they linger forever in the cyberverse?