For anyone who’s excited about Twitter as a valuable communications, marketing and sales tool, you have apparently been wasting your time because Twitter is a fad.
According to a poll of communicators done by Ragain Communications and PollStream, 54% of 702 respondents claim Twitter is nothing more than a hot trend that will quickly lose its appeal.
“[It’s a fad] because everybody’s doing it,” Bob Hirschfeld, senior public information officer for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, told Ragan.com. “Ashton Kutcher and CNN have a steady supply of fans who want to know what they do. People like us, people with a job to do, every so often we do something of interest to the general public [but] we don’t have that steady supply of stuff that the public is interested in.”
Of those who participated in the poll, 28% said they microblog, and it has helped increase employee engagement, improve customer service and reputation with customers, and boost Web site traffic.
Another 40%, however, don’t have a plan to microblog plandue to “fearful managers, lack of time and staff, or simply not believing it would benefit the company”.
Although Twitter is not for everyone or every company, it is difficult to believe that so many communicators are skeptical about Twitter.
For any consumer-facing company, Twitter is must-use tool simply because it’s another way to communicate with existing and prospective customers. To dismiss Twitter as a fad is premature and suggests an ignorance of a social media tool with huge potential.
Apparently, Twitter is Just a Fad
For anyone who’s excited about Twitter as a valuable communications, marketing and sales tool, you have apparently been wasting your time because Twitter is a fad.
According to a poll of communicators done by Ragain Communications and PollStream, 54% of 702 respondents claim Twitter is nothing more than a hot trend that will quickly lose its appeal.
“[It’s a fad] because everybody’s doing it,” Bob Hirschfeld, senior public information officer for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, told Ragan.com. “Ashton Kutcher and CNN have a steady supply of fans who want to know what they do. People like us, people with a job to do, every so often we do something of interest to the general public [but] we don’t have that steady supply of stuff that the public is interested in.”
Of those who participated in the poll, 28% said they microblog, and it has helped increase employee engagement, improve customer service and reputation with customers, and boost Web site traffic.
Another 40%, however, don’t have a plan to microblog plan due to “fearful managers, lack of time and staff, or simply not believing it would benefit the company”.
Although Twitter is not for everyone or every company, it is difficult to believe that so many communicators are skeptical about Twitter.
For any consumer-facing company, Twitter is must-use tool simply because it’s another way to communicate with existing and prospective customers. To dismiss Twitter as a fad is premature and suggests an ignorance of a social media tool with huge potential.