02/04/2011
First off, I don't really think Twitter sucks. You can find me at @JasonNMark and it's obvious that I enjoy the conversations... but I don't think it's right for every business.
Here's why:
1) It's less popular than Myspace
Surprising I know, but when I was speaking in Chicago to a group of higher education professionals every one of them said they had more action on their MySpace site than Twitter. Another college chimed in and told a story of spending MONTHS getting almost 500 followers only to find out there was already a MySpace site with around 2,000 followers (is followers the right word with MySpace?), which was started by an alumni and featured a bikini clad co-ed front and center of the profile. Shouldn't you spend your time with the most popular social platforms first?
2) It's peaked
It certainly could have a second resurgence, but let's not wait around for it, and let's not pour resources into it "hoping" for that second wind. If Twitter gets a second wind, I'll revise this article and you can adjust your social media strategy accordingly.
3) It's expensive
Social Media should be a 2-way conversation, it's shouldn't be just a news release. Recent surveys have shown that the most "interactive" Facebook pages have between 10 and 15 posts per month, while the most "interactive" Twitter feeds have between 30 and 50. It takes 3 times as much work to develop the same interaction on Twitter as Facebook. Add that to the fact that you're reaching less people on Twitter (see above) and you're effectively spending 5-10 times more time for every Twitter conversation.
4) It's for "Old People"
This Fall I was at a conference and they put a group of 6 teenagers up on a stage and asked them questions about their social media use. They represented a pretty wide cross-section of students with a 17 year old international college student, a 16 year old high school student who got Bs and Cs, and a traditionally-aged high school senior who is active in his church group and plays guitar. When asked if they use Facebook and YouTube all of them said they use Facebook for 1-3 hours a day, and most of them used YouTube for at least 30 minutes a day. When asked about Twitter there was silence until one brave teenager said "Well, I know old people use it".
Is Twitter EVER the right answer?
Of course there are places where Twitter makes sense.
Especially if your target audience LIVES on Twitter: Geeks. Venture Capitalists. Reporters. Bloggers (thanks Bob for the nudge on this one).
My suggestion to you is to take a little time to think about how much time you spend on Twitter, and what your return is. It's quite possible that you could get more benefit spending that time in some other way. If you still think Twitter is the best use of your time and money, look me up when you get there and let me know if you agree or disagree with me: @JasonNMark