Should The Twitter Question Be Renamed

Of course Twitter should be used for marketing–or any other purpose, for that matter. It is primarily a short messaging application, with a social component. It is only reasonable that people will use it to market their products or services. As long as someone can be “blocked” there is really no problem.

That is an interesting Question Greg, After looking at my followering/ers there seems to be a prodominance of Marketers for nearly every product. Yes “What are you Marketing” would be apt. Sometimes its hard to find people that are actually online talking, but as technology appears that allows us to communicate with the masses we will tweet our messages. Maybe they could start a side line called act called” Marketing It” along the same lines

Q: What are you doing?
A: Marketing.

We have to be careful with the fact that there may be a few people thirsty and with empty glasses looking for something to drink. The problem is bursting the entire dam and flooding the village.

With the junk being marketed and the drivel being talked about, what does it matter?

I think there's room for everyone on Twitter. Sometimes marketing IS what you're looking for – tools, opptys, etc. I like to tweet on a more personal level, but I've also found a great new source of fresh coffee in great flavors, got some good tools to build my business with. It all works for me.

That's awesome Jill, I really like your response and the way you see things. For me life is always about balance.

I believe so much in the community aspect of Twitter and I like to interact with followers, but I also believe in the marketing aspect as well. And your comment hre explains why.

Thanks for the comment…

I use Twitter to market Artists and Photographers(plus myself) We won't promise to make you rich but we can enrich your walls with Art.
I'm slowly weeding out all the Teeth Whitening and How I made $1000's using Twitter from those I'm following.

Hi Greg…. Great post! I'm going to draw a parallel here: Imagine a world with no salespeople or businesses that sell things. Without people to sell you what it is you want, you would not sleep in the bed that you do, drive the car you have, dine at your favourite restaurant, even type on the keyboard you are currently using. Sales and marketing are as imperative as oxygen. They give you what you want and they also give you choice… will it be a Mercedes or a BMW that you choose.

Twitter and all the other networks are the modern form of instant media. Remember these words from the early days of radio and TV “… and now a word from our sponsor.”

The audience always has the option to not listen or read the promotional content… but without it, we abandon our right to be informed and choose.

My contribution to social networks is deliberately balanced because I know that people want to get to know me as a person and to develop some rapport with me before they consider any other matters I might put before them. It's what I teach people when I mentor them in business and why people respond positively when I direct them to opportunities worth considering… but I always respect their right to choose.

So, let's leave Twitter et al just as they are and give people due credit for being able to switch on or off as they please.

Cheers,
Tony

Awesome Tony, it's just part of life I think, and we do have a choice if we want to hear it or not.

I think what is worse is when they try and control what you do. I think if Twitter tried to control this the service would die. I know I would rather have a community with marketing than a dead community.

Marketing to me is what brings life to these web 2.0 communities.

Initially I joined the community as a tool to develop my marketing and home business. However, it's taken a turn in that I find myself interacting more on a personal level. I have engaged in conversations with so many people from such diverse backgrounds. It's refreshing to engage and share and to be part of this virtual community. So I think it's an act of balance. As I believe there are many who are using T to promote their business, or seeking opportunities to simply interacting with like-minded individuals. Thank you for seeking input!

This is a great comment Robyn, you have captured the heart of social media. Thank you for the input!

Marketing and communicating are really not that different. After all, you won't be a very effective marketer if you can't communicate. If all you do is flog the same thing everyone else is, in the same way, you're not going to get much action. You have to build a loyal Follower base by providing great information consistently. And when you do drive someone to your website or Sales Page, you need to do it creatively and in a way that doesn't seem like marketing at all, just another valuable piece of info.

Marketing and communicating are really not that different. After all, you won't be a very effective marketer if you can't communicate. If all you do is flog the same thing everyone else is, in the same way, you're not going to get much action. You have to build a loyal Follower base by providing great information consistently. And when you do drive someone to your website or Sales Page, you need to do it creatively and in a way that doesn't seem like marketing at all, just another valuable piece of info.

Twitter is being used for many different reasons. In the end, it can't be Twitter's responsibility to decide what is posted. With millions of posts everyday, that would be an impossible task. If I decide I don't want any advertising about something in particular, I ignore it. And if a follower is only promoting something I want nothing to do with, I simply removed them from my friends. I have engaged in interesting conversations with new found friends because of Twitter. Conversation that originally started out for marketing and then turned into common interests and vice versa. If we take that marketing aspect out of it, then we lose that aspect and go back to the early boring days of Twitter when my friends would tell me when they got a cup of coffee.

twitter asks “what's happening?” not “what are you doing?” *puzzled*

Good observation, and thanks for letting me know…

Twitter must have changed it without me looking. But as you can see it used to say “what are you doing”… they must have listened to me… LOL

Unfortunately, what started as a social platform has transformed into a predominantly marketing platform……with a bit of social stuff thrown in. I think Twitter probably accepts that it's phenomenal growth is due mainly to marketers and money talks so I'm sure they're quite happy.
Personally? I try to strike a balance so that I provide information that has some value to readers as well as a marketing message.
I also think Twitter would be a better experience if many others adopted such a balanced approach, but as some of the other comments quite rightly suggest, you can easily turn off anyone that doesn't comply with the “spirit” in which Twitter was originally intended.