It all started when the fashion brand Acne started following Fredrik Wass of Bisonblog fame on Twitter. Fredrik felt spammed and wrote a heated post on his blog. Jesper Åström responded at his Online PR-blog. In essence he made very good points i think, but his angle was all crooked. Instead of heading into a discussion about the asymmetry of Twitter (which could have made a good angle) he heads into critique of Fredriks attitude which he describes as “shit, I’m so popular”. This is where I blow my offside whistle.
Because really. I think that Fredrik is off the mark in his analysis, but Jesper is off the mark in his attitude. There is nothing wrong with Fredrik’s general attitude (as far as I can tell). I don’t think he sounds too cool for school. So drop the bar stools guys. Let’s discuss the topic in question instead.
In my lectures my first slide in the strategy section has one word written on it in super large type – “Listen”. And I think that this is precisely what Acne is doing when they are adding Fredrik. They are listening to, among others, Fredrik Wass. Perhaps to have him reciprocate in following them, but I think rather to learn from him. He is after all one of the authorities in social media in Sweden. I think that this is a very sound thing to do.
While blogging has the drawback of not knowing exactly who listens to you (setting aside future endevours of Facebook Connect and Friend Connect), Twitter has that feature inherently. When it comes to Facebook, the adding of friends is a symmetric affair. You can’t just follow without being followed. This is a very important difference, and also what lowers the barriers of saying hello in the Twitterspere.
Where I DO think that Fredrik has a point is where he talks about brand names being anonymous. We all know that there is a person on the other end, but we don’t know who. And this is not cool. We don’t want to talk to a sign on the wall. But to me these are at least two different uses of Twitter. Both valid. For example I follow Jung on twitter, but I also follow people at Jung. For two different reasons.
The point that everybody seems to be missing is that of clarity. I think that every Twitter account (especially the professional ones) need a policy.
1. Be transparent about your intentions. What is this account for?
2. Never exceed 140 character in your policy description.
3. Be honest.
4. Follow your own policy.
And I know that this post is way to long. Perhaps I should keep my opinions to 140 characters.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
So we agree. But to make full circle on your argument that you like to follow both an organization and its employees, there has to be an acceptance of people and organizations hoaming in on you in return. Wouldn’t you agree?
//Jesper
Of course. I can’t see how that would be a bad thing, unless they are stalkers or burglars. People following me don’t clutter my timeline or anything else.
I sincerely enjoy this discussion, thanks for keeping it alive
.
I have a hunch that many companies use their Twitter account to distribute, rather than listening. I also think they add people to make them aware of the company’s Twitter presence. I also think they are uncertain about their Twitter strategy. I finally think this is all ok, as long as they keep the respect for their community, and focus on learning.
To continue with the Jung Twitter account transparency. I update it most of the time with the help of my colleagues. Would you prefer that it is stated in the bio of our account?
We started micro-blogging for 3 reasons:
1. We think there are people that want to know things about Jung that doesn’t suit the blog or the web site.
2. We think there are people that want to know what’s going on at Jung and don’t want to know what I’m doing (or my other colleagues).
3. Micro-blogging is new and its full potential is far from explored. It is truly exciting and if we’re not exploring it I think we’re doing ourselves a disservice.
@Walter – Well… I assume that I cannot disagree with that one. A perversion of twitter future will be when we time tweets to set off when we are gone from our house so that burglars will think we are still at home. Like a barking dog alarm, but web bound.
From today I will only sporadically be writing on online-pr as it is my last day at H&H.
//Jesper
@Jesper, I’ve enjoyed your blogging. Let me know if you start another blog. Where will you go to?
@Olle,
Things that you want Jung to be saying should come from @jung. Some things are like that. But anything personal, or anything that you want a personal response to should come from a person.
There is also something honest about stating @jung under certain circumstances when listening. Perhaps Jung, as an agency, just wants to keep track of what certain Twitterers are saying, then, to me, it is more honest to do that from @Jung. Like an inverted press service.
Simply put, there are different ways to use microblogging for different situations.
Excactly my opinon.