Guest Post. Open speech marks.
Not since the tragic Disneyfication of Winnie The Pooh has a media form been so seamlessly hijacked, re packaged and re introduced and in turn been so easily and alarmingly accepted as authentic by those who frankly should know better.
I am of course referring to Twitter.
The ability for us to connect and talk globally to almost anyone is not new. Admittedly the roving story tellers of the ancient world that have linked civilisations and belief systems together through retelling of tales and legends took a tad longer to wander from East to West than a quick click through the internet- they were none the less exponents of WOM.
Along comes the web connection centuries later and lo! We have ‘discovered a new world’ except this time we’ll package it up as “a social media landscape” and claim its authenticity as its integrity- you can’t fool the public who own and manage social media – we are told- so don’t try they’ll see straight through you and reject you. Add to this the quasi science that marketers have developed to ensure that we can form our dialogue so that it retains the required authenticity but surreptitiously (and with integrity) ensures our message gets to be seen first and we have a whole world of contradiction. BTW if anyone thinks SEO or SM is new check out your yellow pages (yes the book) and see just how many AAA Taxis there are.
Back to my point- as marketers we sell stuff- or at least I do, I think that’s what my clients ask me to do- therein lies the genius of Twitter. Genius I say on two levels
- It is a marketing tool- pure simple and unashamed. What it asks is not “what are you doing?” but “is it ok if I sell you stuff? Just click follow me, thanks, I need your permission you see, because I respect your integrity”
- Its neatly sneaked in to the social marketing landscape and smartly fooled the digital evangelists and child brand managers enough to propel them into new realms of meaningless postulation about how as humans living in a fast paced age we desire to connect in real time and share our daily minutiae.
Twitter is an on line multi faced billboard, that cleverly ensures its many selling messages are only available to people who ask to see them.
It’s about as social as Nero.
It’s an online market stall that allows consumers to look, and then talk to the stallholder and lets them hang around their shop waiting for the next special offer
Great for brands, monumentally pointless for individuals. So next time you Tweet just remember – you’re probably talking to yourself, and no one actually has an interest in half the conversation you think you’re having with @someonelse
BTW you can of course follow me all day on http://twitter.com/SimonAKozak
Close speech marks.
Simon Kozak is the Strategic Planner and GM for Ad Agency G2.
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