I was at a t-shirt shop last week and while talking to the store’s owner, Twitter came up. He asked me if I’m on, I said yes and asked if he’s on; he said no and that he doesn’t understand what all the hype is about.
He asked, “why would I want to spend the day on a website that opens up the lines of communication between regular people and celebrities?”
Naturally, I went into pitch mode and explained why Twitter is as popular as is it is now and how a small business owner, like himself, can benefit from the tool.
He’s not the first person I speak to who doesn’t understand the greater concept of Twitter. I’ve met others who think it’s just another chat room.
After discussing this with Ulises Orozco, we realized that while Twitter is an important, valuable and effective tool for spreading news, it’s ironic that Twitter, the company, isn’t using itself to better educate its potential users on Twitters’ purpose.
By the way, I found a cute cartoon:
Good post.
Yes, I’ve been involved in similar conversations. And people tend to get so emotional about how they hate twitter — especially if they know nothing about it. So, I ask myself, “Isn’t it better if those people not clutter the twittersphere?” I like the way it is now. Polite and clean (with a few exceptions). But boy do they sound like dinosaurs bashing what they don’t understand. One last thing I’d like to mention is that when I am in a shop/restaurant, and I have a good experience, I will tell the manager that I intend to post a positive tweet about their business. They LOVE it. They know nothing about what I’m going to do, but the fact that they are being mentioned on twitter in a positive light makes them fall all over themselves.
That’s really funny that the business owner or manager gets excited, even though they don’t know what you’re referring to.
I somewhat get offended when people bash a tool that they don’t fully comprehend, but like you, I prefer they not clog up the servers.
More power to those that use social media tools and to those that don’t
Great post Agustina! I agree with you 100%.
This has happened to me so many times. I often explain the value of Twitter (and other Social Media tool) to Communications (Adv/PR) students and recent grads and the responses I get truly startle me. “I barely have time for Facebook, why do I want to use Twitter? What a waste of time!” “I don’t get the hype about Twitter!”
I guess what surprises me the most is that many fail to see the relationship of creating messages on Social Media sites with what they are learning in the classroom. The media is drastically changing and it’s a shame that the some Gen Y (who, in my opinion, should be fueling the market place with new ideas for social interaction) get stuck with ideas of how many ads to place on print and newspapers as their most creative strategies.
How do you think this issue could be solved in the classroom? Should this encouragement come from faculty? or should students be naturally inquisitive about their field and try all the tools on their own? I’d love to hear your thoughts about that!
Thank you, Maria!
Everyday, I explain to people how valuable it is to spend a few hours a day on social networks building and harvesting relationships. I compare it to real life: you make new friends and you keep in touch with them, you have conversations, you share common interests… it’s all the same thing, but online. And the beauty of building these relationships online is that you can make friends from half way across the country, or even the world! I can’t stress enough how important it is to allocate some time throughout your day to various social networks. It’s an uphill battle at the moment, but I’m confident that people will begin to understand what we’ve been telling them, very soon.
As far as teaching these skills at universities, I’m not sure that’ll happen just yet. The reason I helped start Social Media Club South Florida is because I felt that what I was taught in college was no where close to what I learned on my own after graduation. That’s not an attack on the professor and definitely not on the university. The way I see it, universities have a budget and a set curriculum that create somewhat of a barrier when it comes to changing things around and teaching new classes in fields like social media, a field that many people call a “fad.”
Don’t get discouraged if people don’t grasp the concept as quickly as you did. Some people aren’t early adopters, but eventually, they’ll find the value in social media… or not. By the same token, social media isn’t for everyone and every industry.