Remember people saying ‘Who wants to know what you had for breakfast?’ when Twitter first launched? It feels like ancient history already, as twitter proves its relevance time and again, not only in clever marketing campaigns (like Kleenex’s hayfever campaign last spring) but also as a useful information channel.
One of our colleagues is ‘embedded’ at the Dept for Children, Schools and the Family, editing web content. He’s a journalist and editor, so he’s alert to the news agenda and the need to manage the story. A while ago, as a kind of journalistic reflex and gesture of goodwill, he starting posting links to departmental news on Twitter.
Slowly but surely the page gained traction and now it’s become a content destination for people working or interested in the education sector, with over 3,500 followers.
Every month he can gauge which stories get the most click-throughs from his tweets, and which tweets are read most often. It’s a great way to build a relationship with an audience, build a reputation for timely, useful and reliable information and gain insight into what people are interested in.
Companies and organisations are switching on to value of using social media, to generate a buzz and get their message out in novel ways. But it’s also made me realise that as users/consumers ourselves, we’ve got more of a responsibility now.
As my colleagues know (and laugh at), I’m a sometimes too-keen user of Amazon. I love getting my (sometimes daily) deliveries of stuff. But until now I’ve never rated my purchases or made comments on something I’ve bought. ‘Don’t bother me’ is my reflex when Amazon sends me emails prompting my feedback.
But last night, returning to London after a visit to a client out of town and greeting with relief the crush of people in the tube station I realised that ‘the crowd’ (the audience, the consumer) has a dynamic of its own and in order to appreciate it I also have to play my part. I bore my friends with films I’ve seen or books I’ve read, but that’s not enough.
As consumers we now rely on the recommendations and comments of strangers because we’re all in it together. Just as voters can make or break a political party’s ambitions, so we can make sure that the best products and services get the widest possible audience.
So I’ve signed up to Power2010. And I’ve added my comments on Amazon.
11 March 2010
Who needs an audience?
Remember people saying ‘Who wants to know what you had for breakfast?’ when Twitter first launched? It feels like ancient history already, as twitter proves its relevance time and again, not only in clever marketing campaigns (like Kleenex’s hayfever campaign last spring) but also as a useful information channel.
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