Business Crazes
They’re All Gonna Twitter At You
Wed/May/2009 07:00 PM Filed in: Personal
I paraphrase that old Adam Sandler line for a reason. A couple of them actually.
First of all, Sandler himself is known for being a bit reticent with the media. You seldom see him on TV or read an interview with him in the papers. For someone with a box office record that makes many a studio executive drool like Garfield’s buddy Odie, this guy manages to keep one low profile. So that said, when you do see Sandler on TV, he is, without fail, going before the cameras with one purpose: to sell a product.
Much has been made of Twitter and it’s ability to get the word out every which way you can. The big media kingpins are quickly jumping on board the Twitter fast train, for fear of the little guys running productive circles around their mighty feet. After all, with the ability to get the word out to the masses yourself, what use is there for the Colossus with the monopoly on megaphones?! Twitter, Facebook, Friendster, MySpace, Ning, all these sites are or were meant to put the power of the press in the palms of your sweaty iPhone clasping hands. The only thing is, everyone seems to be on there for the same reason. Folks aren’t casually staring at the screen, waiting for the next big news break or book review to pop up in 140 characters or less. Maybe some are, folks named Gordy and Esther, but the folks with their fingers on the pulse, they’re on there for one purpose and one purpose only: to sell, SELL, SELL!!!
They’re either pumping their Twitters with automatic feeds, or working their little thumbs raw, trying to rack up the largest number of followers. Yeah, the goal is to get as many folks to see your stuff as possible, but there’s something funny going on. For a while now I’ve tried to follow anyone who follows me on Twitter. I’ll dutifully go to their name and click follow. Then a day or so later, I go back and compare notes, and oftentimes, the person who started following me first has now stopped. If this had only happened once or twice I’d have thought nothing of it, or maybe taken it a little personally, but now I think it’s just another variation of measuring, which frankly, is just sad! Is everyone out their just trying to rack up the highest numbers while pontificating in a headwind? Yowsers. What's the point then?
So how long will this Twitter thing last? I’m starting to wonder, cause now, frankly, all it seems to be is a bunch of folks yammering away with no one listening. It’s like the stock market problems have brought the ultimate desperation, instead of ticker-taping their quotes, companies and entrepreneurs are ticker-taping every meeting and scrap of an idea or product line that enters their heads. Hell, I'm guilty of it, but in the end it’s just more noise.
Anyway, I guess we’ll see. In the meantime, I’m going to head off and Twitter this article now. Let’s see if anyone is listening.
First of all, Sandler himself is known for being a bit reticent with the media. You seldom see him on TV or read an interview with him in the papers. For someone with a box office record that makes many a studio executive drool like Garfield’s buddy Odie, this guy manages to keep one low profile. So that said, when you do see Sandler on TV, he is, without fail, going before the cameras with one purpose: to sell a product.
Much has been made of Twitter and it’s ability to get the word out every which way you can. The big media kingpins are quickly jumping on board the Twitter fast train, for fear of the little guys running productive circles around their mighty feet. After all, with the ability to get the word out to the masses yourself, what use is there for the Colossus with the monopoly on megaphones?! Twitter, Facebook, Friendster, MySpace, Ning, all these sites are or were meant to put the power of the press in the palms of your sweaty iPhone clasping hands. The only thing is, everyone seems to be on there for the same reason. Folks aren’t casually staring at the screen, waiting for the next big news break or book review to pop up in 140 characters or less. Maybe some are, folks named Gordy and Esther, but the folks with their fingers on the pulse, they’re on there for one purpose and one purpose only: to sell, SELL, SELL!!!
They’re either pumping their Twitters with automatic feeds, or working their little thumbs raw, trying to rack up the largest number of followers. Yeah, the goal is to get as many folks to see your stuff as possible, but there’s something funny going on. For a while now I’ve tried to follow anyone who follows me on Twitter. I’ll dutifully go to their name and click follow. Then a day or so later, I go back and compare notes, and oftentimes, the person who started following me first has now stopped. If this had only happened once or twice I’d have thought nothing of it, or maybe taken it a little personally, but now I think it’s just another variation of measuring, which frankly, is just sad! Is everyone out their just trying to rack up the highest numbers while pontificating in a headwind? Yowsers. What's the point then?
So how long will this Twitter thing last? I’m starting to wonder, cause now, frankly, all it seems to be is a bunch of folks yammering away with no one listening. It’s like the stock market problems have brought the ultimate desperation, instead of ticker-taping their quotes, companies and entrepreneurs are ticker-taping every meeting and scrap of an idea or product line that enters their heads. Hell, I'm guilty of it, but in the end it’s just more noise.
Anyway, I guess we’ll see. In the meantime, I’m going to head off and Twitter this article now. Let’s see if anyone is listening.