Comments on: Twitter Isn’t Over-Hyped; It’s Just Misunderstood

By: Joan

Joan — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:56:47 +0000

Twitter can be a valuable marketing tool for some.

But I also think Twitter has become a spammer's dream. And just like companies that sell useless guaranteed website traffic to those that don't know any better – there are numerous people selling useless Twitter followers to the same people.

A recent success story for Twitter was an American man who was unable to get a job sending out resumes. He put something on Twitter and got a fantastic job. So Twitter definitely has it's uses.

By: sfmitch

sfmitch — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:48:48 +0000

I think Twitter is way Over-Hyped. Media and companies seem to think mentioning Twitter makes them cool / relevant. Talking about Twitter just to be seen/heard talking about Twitter.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:41:15 +0000

I agree that Twitter is misunderstood. Because Twitter can be used in so many different ways, a persons understanding and perspective can be skewed by how they learned about it or who introduced them to it. Once a person understands that they can follow both @Oprah and #Oprah, that's when the light bulb goes off and they understand Twitter's power.

By: Filbert

Filbert — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:56:52 +0000

John Dvorak has an interesting perspective in his most recent column, Twitter is the new CB radio, and when you think about it, it does have a lot of similarities to CB radio. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2351932,00.a...

By: Alex Hawkinson

Alex Hawkinson — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:02:51 +0000

As I said here http://bit.ly/iqugL in response to Scoble’s post, it's not that Twitter is the be-all-end-all tool. It's just that if it is used properly it can become the constantly in motion "front line" where your business (or your individual) interests can connect with other relevant people in the world who you are not yet connected to. That’s a powerful value. We have found then that it needs to be integrated with a deeper web presence (like what we’re attempting to do with http://www.cloudprofile.com) that blends Twitter with other forms of content and engagement tools that can flow across the web for other forms of interaction (Facebook, e-commerce, etc.). Twitter and open, publicly available micro-blogging is becoming and will remain an important part of the equation.

Incidentally, on point 1 above, tools are evolving like ours that try to keep people succinct while also letting them flow smoothly into longer posts without being unnaturally constrained…the tools just summarize and take the core of a post and tailor it as appropriate for whatever environment the post is flowing to. Posts to Twitter are simple and tight, while the same post syndicated to Facebook or elsewhere contains richer information since the platforms support that.

By: markevans

markevans — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:15:11 +0000

Kevin,

Actually, you make a good point about the discount, promo codes and contests given what Dell and Jet Blue have done. Thanks for weighing in.

By: Lise

Lise — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:11:57 +0000

Twitter is still relatively new but growing like wildfire, probably the contant exposure of it now everywhere its pulling more people in to sign on. I didn't get it at the beginning of the year when I got an account but following the tweets I liked and mirroring what they did helped immensely. I like the lack of selling on twitter, I think Twitter itself still doesn't understand what its here for, it just is. I think it has benefits we haven't even seen yet, which I find exciting. I think its appealing more to our right brain, the creative side and that in time we will all be connected to each other somewhere somehow!

By: kevinbriody

kevinbriody — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:11:33 +0000

I think it's not entirely accurate to say "With Twitter, you’re penalized if you blatantly try to sell because Twitter is a conversation medium, not a sales medium." It's true on a broad level, but more and more we're seeing companies experiment with using Twitter to drive direct, trackable sales – provide Twitter-only discounts, promo codes, contests, etc. In fact that's a major way Dell uses it, and it's reasonable well accepted if done right.

Twitter and blogs seem to be following a similar hype cycle, from conversation medium for the enthusiasts through to adoption by major brands and indispensable tool for a whole range of businesses. The difference is blogging had/has multiple vendors and platforms, standard and open technology at its core (RSS), etc. Twitter is one company, and controls it all. It will be interesting to see how comfortable big brands feel betting so much on a single, small company with unproven longevity. Parallels to Facebook I think.

By: mavgi

mavgi — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 14:56:31 +0000

From a micro perspective, it is no Twitter that is over-hyped– but discussions of on Twitter.

In any case, Twitter has begun to evolve — not change– the way we communicate.

By: markevans

markevans — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:15:05 +0000

I think, in time, the hype surrounding Twitter is dissipate, and that it will become another tool used by companies and individuals to communicate, market, sell, etc.