Why Corporate Twitter “Conversations” Are Lies
Okay, folks, it’s time to interject a little honesty into the social media dialogue.
Despite grand platitudes of how Twitter is ‘shepherding a new era of corporate transparency and a spirit of engaging with customers,’ the fact remains that even the best corporate examples of such engagement on Twitter remain trivial at best.
Just because a company launches a Twitter page and assigns a marketing intern to tweet replies back to anyone who tweets them does not mean they have engaged in any kind of conversation or dialogue. They most certainly haven’t changed any paradigms, shifted any culture, or launched any new eras.
An @Reply Is Not a Conversation
Social media “evangelists” frequently fall into the mistake of trumping up this kind of direct contact as more than it is.
A conversation is not an answered question nor a thrown kudos. An example:
This friendly response to someone’s tweet is, to be sure, a nice little gesture on Rescuetime‘s part. But it’s just that. A nice gesture. Good customer service. Put down that pipe, Shaggy; it’s too early to spark that bad-boy.
What do you think?
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March 8th, 2010
Why Corporate Twitter “Conversations” Are Lies http://ow.ly/1fERA
March 8th, 2010
It's better than not acknowledging someone..but not much. RT @MichaelCalienes Why Corp. Twitter “Conversations” Are Lies http://ow.ly/1fERA
March 8th, 2010
Customer: Hello. Do you have these pants in chartreuse?
Clerk: Why, yes. Also, cyan and cranberry.
Customer: Thanks.
Is that a conversation, a dialogue or neither? It seems like it's more a question of semantics than anything. Using Twitter as a customer support channel in this way isn't going to solve all of a company's customer service issues, but it can't hurt. The interactions may not be substantive 'conversations' on Twitter, but how many Twitter-borne interactions are substantive? And why do they have to be substantive to count?
I generally agree on the generic '@replies'. Those aren't particularly valuable or interesting.
March 8th, 2010
Why Corporate Twitter “Conversations” Are Lies http://tinyurl.com/yz299uu
March 8th, 2010
RT @colmanjones: Why Corporate Twitter “Conversations” Are Lies http://tinyurl.com/yz299uu
March 8th, 2010
I'm in total agreement – you aren't really engaging with customers (or clients, or friends, or anyone else) unless you are (a) talking about substantive matters and (b) really listening to what they have to say.
Twitter isn't really designed for sustained conversations, but you see the same problems in many other technologies. In online learning contexts we've found that people are not naturally good at responding meaningfully to what others have to say in most technological environments.
Is the structure of social media tools pushing us to broadcast and receive information without engaging in deeper dialogue? I'll be interested to see /if people respond to this comment…
March 8th, 2010
A voice of sanity by @todmaffin about what social media is and is not doing for us: http://tiny.cc/o85Xo. See my comment at the end!
March 9th, 2010
A voice of sanity by @todmaffin about what social media is and is not doing for us: http://tiny.cc/o85Xo . See my comment at the end!
March 9th, 2010
Why Corporate Twitter “Conversations” Are Lies – Okay, folks, it’s time to interject a little honesty into th… http://ow.ly/16KA9W
March 9th, 2010
Once again proving that it's not the channel but what you do with it that counts.
March 30th, 2010
Tod, what do you think if a customer actually provides you assistance through their Twitter? For example, whenever I have a question or concern with @westjet, they always answer my question or take care of my concern. Some examples are, I could not find their mobile check in page, so I asked them where it was on twitter and they DM me with the URL. In another instance I had a question about bereavement faires, and someone DM me offering me to email me the info, or call me on the phone to explain it. And in a third instance, I asked them if I were to put my Twitter name on my luggage, would they be able to send me a tweet when they found my luggage? The person replied to me and said they could arrange to have my luggage lost so that I could find out.
Are those examples of conversations?
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