Bloggertone

Interesting comments Topgold. I think there are similarities in how we both use Twitter.

No one else can really see how well Twitter works for me because it all happens outside of my public Twitter feed. So I don’t have a stream of friendly chit chat in the public feed. But I do connect continually to new & old Twitter friends in a meaningful way behind the scenes. So I guess I have a more rapid conversion outside of Twitter.

I’d be interested to know if you get lots of DMs and emails like I do. And what you feel about your conversion rate in bringing casual Twitter friends to become meaningful contacts outside of Twitter.

I’d love to see some case studies on that, but not sure we will.

I just listened to Brian Solis this weekend on a Warren Whitlock talk show, and it really struck home to me that there are no specific rules in creating your social media strategy and what tactics a business should use. Everything depends on what you want to get out of it and how you should go about it to get there. There are just too many parameters to make any generalizations.

I don’t run a script pat, except to unfollow. I do auto-follow and then I just unfollow people that have followed and then unfollowed me. Quitter tells me who stopped following and when I feel that I’ve seen a lot I use one of the unfollow tools. It used to be huitter, but that no longer works.

Brian

Do I enjoy reading tweets like “sitting in a coffee shop”? No and this is because I am jealous that I don’t have time for a cappuccino

I say if your twitter strategy is working for you then keep going – be it 100% biz focused, 100% social focused or somewhere in the middle.

The way I see it is that different SM tools work for different people and everyone has their own favourites. Also people have different objectives in using SM and will therefore use tools differently.

For me this makes it difficult to state that one SM tool is better than another and also makes it difficult to have uniformed rules of engagement. What turns me on (tool choice or how it should be used) could turn others off and visa versa.

You certainly opened up the debate and I enjoyed reading everyone’s opinions.

Paul “A twitter user but not a twitter expert or perhaps I am underselling myself because it’s not exactly rocket science” Mullan

Wow, what a lot of interest in this article and it’s great to see all the different points of views! Perhaps this is an appropriate time to take a look and see what info can be gained from the discussion so far!

***Experience***

Just how can we define experience on twitter? It was eluded to many times in the comments received that experience can be correlated to

a) amount of followers that one has

“ Sorry, but this from someone with 7 followers and who follows 19 people” (Darragh Doyle @ Brian Prenderville)

Conversely, it was suggested that amount of followers has no relationship with experience

“As for McLaughlin just another number gatherer, we have seen them for years and we will see them for years to come” (Pat Phelan @ _McLaughlin)

b) Length of time on twitter.

“Who joined on March 16 of THIS YEAR? http://twitter.com/drofsocialmediaSeriously Brian, you have got to be kidding me here” (Darragh Doyle @ Brian Prenderville)

“oh and by the way, here longer than all of you, you cant claim numbers on that ” (P at Phelan)

And again the opposite argument was put forth

“according to http://howlonghaveyoubeentweeting.com/ I have been on Twitter 2 years, 10 months, 2 weeks, 5 days. A year less than ev and a month less than you.” ( _Mcloughlin 39,981 followers @ Darragh Doyle 3,678 followers)

So just what is it that gives somebody the right to call themselves experienced with twitter? Is it length of time or number of followers for example, as suggested and contradicted throughout our debate or is it none of the above – is technology changing faster than people and as a result we can’t answer such questions? As both a social marketing enthusiast and a researcher I guess I tend to agree with the proposition that there are always answers to questions but that’s just me, what do you think?

***Running a Script***

Again, we seemed to have conflicting views on whether or not is “ok” to run a script
“he is running a script for followers, see how his numbers are so close together, its a dead giveaway” (Pat Phelan negative connotations@ _McLaughlin)

“I do auto-follow and then I just unfollow people that have followed and then unfollowed me” (_Mclaughlin positive connotations@Pat Phelan)

I don’t know much about running scripts but I found myself questioning whether or not it mattered if one runs a script or not. Does it matter how you get your followers? will people have a look for a bit and “decide where you want to stop” (Cindy King) and unfollow you if they don’t like what they see anyway ? Or is scripting the behaviour of “brassers who want to charge for something (Pat Phelan).

Looking at it from another angle should we congratulate those that grow organically such as Colleen Cole who amassed 500 followers using such an approach or could she have got more numbers faster using a script? If so, would the numbers be of any real value or be of such value that they could get her just as many if not more relevant followers due to the affordances and reach offered by such scripts? I’m not sure, what do you think? (P.S Colleen you prob noticed I associated the word organic with the food you were talking about in my response to your post yesterday, Whoops – was very tired!)

***Etiquette***

We saw some emotive words being used….

I Don’t Care Where You Tweet You Twat (Brian Prenderville – Title)

“this is possibly the most bullshit ridden posts I have *EVER* read on Bloggertone and is a complete shame that it was published” Daragh Doyle @ Bloggertone)

In response we saw some criticism of the above

“I think this article is spot on (but I don’t like the title)” ( _McLoughlin)

“You should be aware the final word in your title, in some countries, is considered a very offensive vulgarity with strong misogynistic overtones” (Global Copywright aka Sarah @Brian Prenderville)

“you used the word “bullshit” in your last paragraph” + “ in a professional context, giving a presentation, during a meeting, It is a word I will not use because of the risk that it would be interpreted in a negative fashion” Niall Devitt @ Darragh Doyle)

“I don’t cuss on twitter” + “if I had posted this article instead of Brian, would you have come back with the same comment and called it bullshit?” (_McLaughlin @ Darragh Doyle)

So should we be allowed “cuss” on Twitter and use whatever words we want in order to make our arguments more emotive? is this what our followers want ? or are we doing ourselves a disservice “as take my word, it doesn’t travel” (Global Copywrite aka Sarah @ Brian Prenderville) . Perhaps again it depends on the follwers who “create a new meaning for each tweet” (Rachel).

I can’t speak for Darragh on this and I don’t know enough about how words are perceived or accepted in the different countries, however, I did think my title was catchy and it does seem to have created some response. Or hass it ? What do you think ?

***Title***

Did the title have anything to do with the fact this article has remained on the home page and received so much attention? or is it related to the fact that I got Darragh Doyle, one of the most the most respected users on twitter according to Niall Devitt (C/0 Bloggertone) to enter the debate by tweeting him “Check out blog “I don’t care where you Tweet you Twat ! http://bit.ly/bXR8Ls”, who, in turn started to tweet comments such as

I haven’t ranted in ages but this by a self-styled “Dr of Social Media” is BULLSHIT http://short.ie/uttercrap. Poor @bloggertone

http://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/2010/03/19/i-don%E2%80%99t-care-where-you-tweet-you-twat/ << absolute crap from a "dr of social media"

http://twitter.com/darraghdoyle/status/10815411281

http://twitter.com/darraghdoyle/status/10815320821

which were then picked up and re-tweeted by some of his followers , see below for some examples

http://twitter.com/cloudsteph/status/10722105044
http://twitter.com/anthonymcg/status/10721458297

Or ! without the title would Darragh have bothered to click on the link to the blog in the first place ? I’m undecided, perhaps some of the people who posted about good title’s such as Niall and Cindy (I went looking for the articles to link but couldn’t remember where I saw them) could offer opinions as well as others.

***Best Practice***

I guess if I was to copy all the quotes in relation to how it’s impossible to proffer a definitive list of best practice in relation to the use of twitter I would be copying an awful lot of info. Suffice to say the overall consensus was that this is not possible.

While on the whole I agree that a twitter strategy should be designed to meet the needs and expectations of a business’s followers* and as a result no two twitter strategies can be the same, it is my contention that just like in the offline world business on line could be made much easier for companies if we can come up with some fundamental twittering principles which can lay the foundation for unique business strategies. However, that is just my opinion, and I 100% concur with Wchinga that we need “Interesting points to ponder from different perspectives”

I look forward to reading any new comments and would like to offer an extract from my PhD as a way of provoking further thought on the matter…..

It’s only the future…
Technology is changing faster than markets,
Markets are changing faster than customers,
Customers are changing faster than organisations,
and organisations are changing faster than the people who run them,
(Philips, 2000:1)**

Thanks for reading
Brian

* note the use of business followers as apposed to business – again as pointed out in some of the other articles here on Bloggertone that it is now the customers who dictate how business is run due to the power of social media)

** Philips, N. (2000) E-Motional Business, London, Pearson Education.

I was a SXSW Twithead. Killed the first account because Jaiku was working better. Rejoined with a cluster of tweeple in Tipperary in December 2006. Officially, one of the first 100 Irish-based people on Twitter. Not that it matters much in the real world.

no, it doesn’t really matter. But it is pretty cool.

Thinking about it! perhaps there is a strange synergy between the original post and many of the re-actions in that: the post could have been interpreted as not respecting the folks who use Twitter (those who are experienced users) and some of the resulting re-actions could be interpreted as not respecting the author or the point of view.

Very quickly what starts out as a difference of opinions, expressed well and with reason descends into a silly slanging match. Some of course may see this as harmless fun but the reality is that what’s one person’s fun is another’s cruel.

As we attempt to come to terms with and deal with the very serious consequences of teenagers engaging in bullying online, perhaps we as adults, in an effort to lead by example SHOULD all play by one Twitter rule: RESPECT??

thanks for your support Sian,

The title does seem to have generated a lot of interest alright Hopefully, it is a competition winner.

You know it’s funny ! as I was relaying all the comments to my partner last night I started to question whether there would be any twitter without the trivialities ? or would business people just use the likes of Igopeople and Smartha. So i’m now wondering do the trivialities just come with the territory and are they inextricably linked to the DNA that comprises Twitter !.

I am suggesting that we all need to be careful to ensure that what starts as a difference of opinions doesn’t descend into a slanging match.

Hi Christina,

your never too late to the debate

thanks for your comments an an extremely interesting and eloquent point of view.

Thanks Sian, it’s a very useful post, whether you are new in business or to double check you are a-OK! I also think, it should be an ongoing education, and it always amazes me that very few cashier agents know how to handle such a query; I’ve got so many blank look when asking, could I please get a VAT invoice for this purchase? PS, depending on where the readers who are reading this live, they should check as the legal letterhead requirements are not the same, from country to country.

Hi Sian,nI have invested in headed paper specifically for this purpose. Although, some accounting packages offer specific paper also.nI have a question/clarification: I have been asked specifically if I would like to receive soft copies of invoices from service providers, and I have agreed to this. But the hard copy has stopped as a consequence. nSo, from what you’re saying above, are they not abiding by legal requirements? (one company continued to send hard copies, and I actually contacted them to say not to bother) If I print them out myself, do they qualify as legal invoices?nnGreat post

Hi Contractor Accountant. If you check my blog you will see the latest posts – it is updated regularly

Very interesting thoughts here John. I’m in B2B sales and the way business is being done is definitely different. What I do is not a “high” ticket item and yet we still have to find ways to work with them and earn their business, especially since they’re bombarded constantly in my industry. For us, transparency, patience and empathy are key; all which work extremely well for us. This article intrigues me because I was wondering how the “big” boys and higher ticket market was fairing and dealing with things. Thank you for the information here, Iu2019m very appreciative!nu00a0nMuch kindness,nu00a0nElena

Hi Kg29, I’m sorry to hear you have been caught like this. I suggest you get professional advice from a local accountant to you. Or maybe even the revenue can recommend what you can do. In future if paying over a lot of VAT always check the VAT number that your supplier is giving you and that it matches up with the address etc they are giving you. Good luck