I used to stand up for Twitter (not that they need it) when people claimed it was stupid and just a bunch of noise. I think many of us can agree, regardless of our presence on Twitter or not, that the SCUBA industry hasn’t been one of the early adopters of Twitter. It seems like being late to the game has allowed many people to bypass the whole CONVERSATION aspect of the tool.
Laziness
We all get lazy at times, but in the SCUBA industry there are a few accounts that are the epitome of lazy. I took a look at the list I created of SCUBA industry professionals for this example.
12 of 20 updates were retweets without any additional content.
At least they weren’t using the new retweet function, but still, no thoughts? No insight? Why are you sharing this? I don’t count retweets using tools like Tweetmeme because that’s a great way to share an article. These 60% were using tools like Hootsuite or TweetDeck.
And seriously, the Academy Awards-length list of thank you’s to those who retweet you or nominate you for Follow Friday are really unneccessary. If I retweet you, it’s because it had value, no thanks is necessary.
Automation
I believe a small degree of automation is okay. I hope my Twitter followers are following me partially because they want to know what’s going on with this site. Even the 3 updates I send out for each article every day aren’t automated, I fit them into my terrible sleep patterns. The only real automation I use is for comments because I want people to join into any lively conversation.
Looking at my list again, another 4 of 20 (20%) were completely automated. I’ve even removed some of the user accounts that are obviously just bots.
The other evil form of automation comes in the form of auto-follow replies. I report all of you as spam and I suggest you do the same.
Two Way Conversation
Twitter was a two way conversation, but not so much lately. I send direct questions to dive shops, SCUBA gear manufacturers, SCUBA certification agencies and independent SCUBA instructors and never get a reply. Then I look through their timeline to see they never respond to people, they are simply broadcasting.
So in my snapshot view of SCUBA professionals, there were 4 updates that were unique.
If you refuse to be unique, what makes you different from the next SCUBA instructor?
Photo via twicepix
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{ 7 comments }
Hey, I'm Unique..lol my twitter username is Uniquediver and you never sent me a message Nick. I don't use Twitter a whole lot, mainly to share articles that I find interesting…Oh and that is usually through Tweetme.
I don't use twitter so much anymore. I tried to create conversations, but nothing came of it. So I stopped. I rarely check twitter, while I've dedicated a browser tab for Facebook. I have a pluggin that tweets my blog posts, but that is about it. I haven't found it useful as I was hoping. I think it is because of the limitations of Twitter. Only have 140 character tweets and that's it. Facebook has apps, pages, etc. that make people want to come back.
OTOH I believe Twitter is a better forum for open conversations. Teaches us to be succinct.
Facebook is becoming less and less useful as a communications tool. The SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) is aweful, especially with farmville, zombies, etc.
Also, we need to be really careful about the privacy issues with Facebook, particularly in the last week with the changes to their policy.
I couldn't agree more regarding being succinct. Working in Corporate America, I see long, rambling emails constantly, whereas the people I know who use Twitter can keep their emails concise as well.
I think Twitter & Facebook have similar SNR issues, but similar solutions. On Twitter, I unfollow the auto-bots and report the spammers. On Facebook, I create lists and block applications.
I'll be interested to see how the Facebook privacy rules play out, I definitely think there has been more hype than truth surrounding the changes recently. My information is still just as private as it was 2 months ago. But I also don't think Mark Zuckerberg really cares about the users and will make whatever changes he sees fit and if we don't like it we can go to MySpace.
Twitter & Facebook have their places and that's why I'm on both. Hopefully, the next generation of SCUBA professional who join Twitter won't just use it as a soapbox, but as a conversation tool.
A Retweet can have two purposes – one is to add comment, and another is simply to pass on a message. I use if for both. Sometimes a message stands on its own 2 feet. Sometimes its already at 140 characters.
You sound judgemental as is to say that retweeting should never happen without adding comment. But if there's nothing else to add, just to spread the message, then adding additional noise just for the sake of it is pointless.
Of course, if ALL that someone does is blind retweeting, I'll probably vote with me feet and unfollow them in favour of those that they are retweeting.
I think that being part of a conversation is knowing when to add comment, and when to let the original comment stand on its own 2 feet!
SCUBA! I'm sure you've seen the people I'm referring to (heck, I threw SCUBA! in there at the beginning just as an example of someone, a bot, who will RT this comment). Yes, sometimes just passing it along is enough. I know you and Clint and a few others use the RT in a real, genuine way, but most of the people I see in the SCUBA industry on Twitter don't. I too go on unfollow frenzies at times.
Heh heh! My pet peeve is when the SNR (signal to noise ratio) is so high that it clutters your feed.
Frankly if I see 10+ posts from someone in less than a minute it tells me that its automated or at best piled up. They never respond to conversations, because they're shouting not listening.
To use the phrase from the Cluetrain Manifesto (one of the best marketing books IMHO), "markets are conversations"
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