What If I Don’t Twitter?

My primary goal for this blog is to have it address the questions and concerns of our Sound Web Solutions clients.  So, I take most of the ideas for my blog posts from questions I’m asked by clients.   Let me share with you an interesting question – devil’s advocate approach – I heard from a client recently.   Aware, as most of us are today, that Twitter is the hot new thing, this client felt compelled to do something — but didn’t know what.  Should one person in the company become their “twitter expert”?   Should all employees be told to start tweeting?   Should we host a training session of some kind?   Then came the devil’s advocate — what if we don’t do it at all?   Is that really going to harm us as a company, brand us as a Luddite, leave us hopelessly behind our competition?

What I told this client and will say again is: there are no hard-and-fast rules here.  Twitter is simply yet another way to “get out there” in the Social Media realm – both to hear what others are saying and also to be heard.  I guess the downside of NOT doing it would just be the loss of an opportunity for participation.   Not a dire loss, and not necessarily something that’s going to hurt you.   I personally think the best way to get engaged in Social Media is to author a blog and to read, listen and participate on other people’s blogs in your industry.   Twitter is a way to  send your blog posts out more broadly, to pick up followers who may then become readers of your blog, and to be alerted to what others in your world are saying, writing, and thinking.   A decision to NOT participate in Twitter is a little like a decision not to attend a social gathering at a trade show (or not to attend a party in college) – you can still get the content from speakers at the show (or lectures from your classes), but you won’t be plugged in to the commentary & social chatter that goes on around them.  There’s certainly value in the chatter, and you gain perspectives and tips you wouldn’t get from the formal speeches. 

As is true for much of social media, it’s hard to know what you’re missing unless you try it.  There must be some reason why everyone’s doing it.  Rather than decide against it because you can’t commit to daily tweeting, designate someone to devote 30 minutes a day for 1 month (even 2 weeks) and then share their impressions about what they’ve learned.  That way you can at least develop a point of view on it.   The important thing is to try it before you write it off.