Before you jump on the micro-blogging/Twitter band wagon
05:56, 27 March 2009
.. Posted in Communication, Outreach and General Mngmt.. Link
The media and various bloggers are all abuzz about micro-blogging, particularly Twitter. They are breathless in their descriptions, how this is all "revolutionary" and makes your message "immediate" and blah blah blah.
Micro-blogging means sending a short, 140-character message to all your subscribers cell phones and/or web-based interfaces. There are, indeed, worthwhile uses of micro-blogging for nonprofits, particularly associated with an upcoming or currently-occurring event. But there are downsides to using micro-blogging that nonprofit organizations need to be thinking about before they jump on board:
- Micro-blogging requires immediate responses to subscribers (within minutes). Does your organization have the resources for providing immediate responses on an ongoing basis?
- Micro-blogging can spread negative news and complaints quickly. Does your organization have the resources to monitor "tweets" 24/7?
- Micro-blogging can spread rumors and myths quickly, as well as spread misinformation and inaccuracies. Does your organization have an action plan on how to address quickly-spreading misinformation?
- Micro-blogging is for incredibly interesting, immediately and highly-valuable, or oh-so-witty/oh-so-compelling information. It is not for just "FYI." What does your organization really want to say to its subscribers such that they see it as great, essential info they are delighted to receive, not just "noise"?
"Twitter is about real time customer service if your(sic) a brand. It is not about posting links all the time, cool videos or such. It is about dealing with your customer and creating positive brand awareness at that moment. If you are a company, you see an unhappy customer out there, you need to move quick(sic) and communicate! @JetBlue could of said 'got your tweet, will follow up soon' something to let me know they were working on it. Something..just let me know you have not forgot(sic) about me."
Do read the blog to see how the airline is handling their misstep; the company seems to be on the right track at dealing with online criticism. Kudos.
Fark founder Drew Curtis has written about Twitter & Facebook, and his insights are, as usual, right on. Joe the Peacock has written an Ultimate Guide To Twitter. Both essays/blogs/whatever are worth your time to read.
Back in the 1990s, I advised nonprofits that a web site with incorrect or woefully out-of-date information and/or a contact form that didn't work or no way to contact an organization via email was worse than having no web site at all. That principle holds true for micro-blogging; if you can't do it right, don't do it at all. I'm not saying don't use micro-blogging. I'm not saying there aren't good uses for it by nonprofit organizations. I'm just saying yet again use this tool strategically. Don't let it just create more noise and work for your organization; get real value out of it!
