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How are these #followfriday tweets useful to anybody?

Would you follow these people?

I’m not trying to pick on anybody in particular, which is why I used examples from multiple users and left out their names. It’s just a good example of how NOT to add value to a communications network.

The Failure of #followfriday

In the past year I’ve watched the #followfriday phenomenon evolve from personal introductions to mass shout outs in an attempt to help other Twitter users grow their networks and become more like the self-proclaimed “power users” or “social media gurus”.

Here are my problems with the aforementioned #followfriday executions:

1. It doesn’t tell me WHY I should follow any of these people. Are they helpful, funny, informative, or otherwise unique?
2. It FAILS to communicate what they can offer me or what I can offer them. Do they need my services? Do I need theirs? Do we have anything in common other than being one of your followers?
3. It doesn’t build VALUE for your followers or the people you “pimp”. Based on my experience with being called out in several mass #followfriday messages, the only new followers it attracts are the aspiring “power users” that follow everybody. Then the cycle repeats itself next Friday.
4. It sacrifices QUALITY for quantity. It tells the world that you value a large follower list more than the relationships with the people on that list.

I understand the #followfriday concept clearly: introduce your network of followers to other twitterers that they should follow. Hence the name “followfriday”. It’s the Twitter equivalent of introducing people at a cocktail party and saying, “Bob, meet Sally. Sally also trains racing snails. I’m sure you’ll have a lot to talk about.”

Now You’re Doing It Right

Just like a personal introduction in real life, a #followfriday mention can be a great way to match up people you know with others that can help them or add value in some way. The key is, you have to tell me WHY.

This wouldn’t be a productive post without a proper example of doing it right. Here’s my #followfriday recommendation: You should follow @LimaBeads because Kevin and the Lima Beads team are a great example of a company that treats its customers as people, rather than social media sheep.

Rules:
Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

1. Made you look.

2. Don’t you have anything better to do?

3. What’s with the sudden fascination with intimate details of people’s lives?

4. Would you ever ask somebody about these details of their life if you were talking to them in person?

5. What about if they could track who was reading their “25 things” note?

6. Did you know I can track who reads my “25 things note”?

7. Did you know Facebook changed their Terms of Service recently and now they FOREVER OWN the rights to every bit of information, photos, “25 things”, and comment you ever make on here? http://consumerist.com/5150175/facebooks-new-terms-of-service-we-can-do-anything-we-want-with-your-content-forever

8. I consider most of you “friends” or “acquaintances”, but only a handful of you could write my “25 things about me” note for me. You know who you are, and you know exactly what would be in it.

9. I don’t dislike this trend, just think it’s a little voyeuristic and impersonal.

10. If you want to know more about a person, why don’t you call them more often or grab a coffee or a beer?

11. I vowed not to write my “25 things note” and I still don’t think this counts.

12. Some of you may take this personally. Don’t. Social media changes the way people communicate, but it doesn’t replace personal relationships developed over long periods of time and/or shared experiences.

13. – 24. I’ve got nothing else to go here, but if you want to catch up sometime over a coffee or beer, I’ll be happy to chat.

25. #6 is a lie. I can’t tell who reads this. But would it change things if I could?

Personally, I like Twitter. I think that in the right contexts it is an amazingly useful tool for building relationships and facilitating communication. But my skin starts to bristle when I hear self-proclaimed social media experts talking about using Twitter for marketing as if it were the Holy Grail or a complete revolution in the way business will get done in the future. I find that many of these “gurus” fall into one or both of these categories:

• Younger people in their first job after college who grew up with these tools in a social context but lack traditional advertising or marketing experience.
• Traditional (perhaps older) marketers that are trying to re-brand themselves to avoid becoming obsolete.

If this describes you, my pet peeves probably apply to you.

1. Twitter is a tactic, not a strategy

Many self-proclaimed social media gurus advise clients to set up a Twitter account and start talking without considering microblogging’s role in larger business and/or marketing objectives. Twittering for business is useless (and potentially dangerous for your brand) without clearly defined objectives and a solid strategy.

2. Twitter is over-hyped

Despite what the echo chamber that is social media would have you believe, Twitter is not the marketing revolution that some people want it to be. That is, unless your target audience fits into one or more of the following categories: 1) Marketers (social media or PR folks), 2) Early Adopters/Techies, 3) Bloggers, 4) Journalists. The vast majority of internet users will never understand or want to sign up for something like Twitter. Unless you have a plan for reaching the masses through the “Twitterati”, your resources are best spent elsewhere.

3. Twitter is over-sold

It’s a shiny object that gets a lot of press. New users are still signing up in droves. But it’s still not an appropriate or useful communications channel in every situation. The old adage still applies, “When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” Not every company is equipped or ready to jump on the Twitter bandwagon. Who are the right people within a company to be Twittering? Are there processes in place to handle different types of interactions with customers or prospects such as complaints, inquiries, or negative press?

4. Twitter is just technology

Marketing is a form of communications. The underlying current in communications is relationships. Fundamental human relationships are aided and advanced by various technologies over time, but the common denominator is people. Too many people are dazzled by the technology rather than focusing the relationships it enables, enhances, or corrupts.

5. Too much noise, not enough signal

Twitter certainly opens up new communications paths for people to connect and meet up, but for general communications purposes I have a hard time justifying the commitment required to carry on meaningful conversations. If I need an answer to a specific question, I use search engines. If I need to reach somebody, I prefer email or a phone call because I know they will get my message.

Don’t get me wrong, I love learning more about people I know, and even some I don’t know. But it’s hard to derive value from several hundred concurrent conversations and still contribute value to other users. Many people are following hundreds or thousands of people, and I just keep wondering how that is sustainable if the motivation is to create and build meaningful relationships. At what point does it become more like broadcast and less like a conversation?

Am I wrong?

There are plenty of success stories of people and marketers using Twitter to create value for their followers, the internet community, and themselves. In fact, I use it to communicate with a wide variety of people about several different topics. But lately I’ve seriously been weighing the costs and benefits and I am coming to the conclusion that Twitter is simply an interesting diversion at the moment, not a useful business tool (for me).

I enjoyed a solid conversation (on Twitter, natch) with @copelandcasati about her use of Twitter to make “friends & peers [she] otherwise would not have met.” @cjuon explained her strategy of following 1,000+ twitterers as a way to duck in and out of several conversations as if it were a cocktail party. @shawnsmith put together an awesome Twitter Primer and led a great discussion at the LA2M lunch today in Ann Arbor.

All of this is well and good. In fact, I agree with all of it. These people are experienced marketers with a solid track record. But perhaps I have a different perspective on building relationships with people.

It used to be that forums like WebmasterWorld.com and DigitalPoint.com were the “underground” of the SEO community. Those in the know shared tips, secrets, and hard-earned knowledge with other practitioners of the not-yet-commoditized “dark art”. For a newbie looking to break into the SEO industry, these sites were a gold mine of information and cutting-edge tactics.

Many of us learned SEO by hanging out in these forums, practicing what was shared, and experimenting with our own ideas. It was relatively easy to see what worked and what didn’t. Over time, it was also clear who the real experts were and who was just there to shout louder than the others.

Today, these forums are flooded with amateurs and speculators that are looking to become the next SEO kingpin. True, there are some great threads on beginning and advanced tactics that anybody can study. But, in the recent years more and more threads are nothing but dangerous and misleading speculation posed by amateurs and conspiracy theorists.

For example, two threads on recent suspected Google ranking updates include such classic lines as:

“I think i’m gonna hire some arabs to bomb google..”

“ – SEO has been directly attacked with most black hat filters being lifted just to complicate things even more.
- Commercial sites are being devalued so they have to buy Adwords.
- Google has monopolised PPC with their Yahoo “purchase” (let’s be honest, this was the only way they could take over Yahoo without getting into trouble with anti-competition laws).
- Results are being rotated so that people give up trying SEO and buy Adwords.
- Results are being rotated to confuse users so that they look harder on the page and hopefully run into more adverts. (opinions?)”

“Crawler speed dropping recently, switching results and so on are all linked to the new algorithm. It is a learning algorithm (AI anyone?) which is why Google are hush-hushing so much during this quite obviously HUGE software change.”

Quotes like these are not productive (or accurate) and could be misleading to anybody just starting to learn SEO. Perhaps the only lesson to be learned from these conversations is a repeating theme that has never, and will never, change:

“Google is totally unpredictable!”

Thank you Captain Obvious! ‘Nuff said.

Honestly, I never thought I’d have to write this post after leaving Comcast’s Triple Play program in favor of AT&T U-Verse. I had hoped to contact the company and provide this feedback through a feedback channel that does not involve calling Technical Support, which I have had to do 4 times in the past 5 days. Unfortunately, there is no such feedback mechanism on the site, so this is the best way I can think of to reach out and touch someone at AT&T.

As a customer, I am frustrated and extremely inconvenienced by my inability to upgrade to HD service because of their systems’ incompatibilities. As a marketer, I know how to reach my intended audience, which in this case is anybody at AT&T that wants feedback on their services.  Having been involved with a lot of online marketing, reputation management and PR initiatives, I know that somebody at AT&T or one of their marketing or PR agencies is listening.

Here’s a recap of the situation:

• January 16th: I canceled my Comcast Triple Play account.
• January 23rd: AT&T installed U-Verse 200 TV and Hi-speed Internet package. Great service techs and speedy, expert installation. Kudos.
• January 23rd – March 15th: I was very happy with the service and didn’t experience any of the service outage problems I had with Comcast.
• March 15th: I bought a new HD-capable TV and wanted to upgrade my AT&T TV service to receive HD channels. I was willing to pay the $10 additional monthly fee and was happily surprised when they gave me a free month without even asking for it. The sales lady was nice and the process went smoothly. I was told my new HD service would be turned on within 2-4 hours.
• March 16th: Still no HD channels so I called Tech Support. Apparently the previous order had been canceled with no explanation so they put in another order and said to expect a phone call when the work was completed, within 24 hours at the most. I chalked it up to human error and was willing to forgive and forget.
• March 17th: Still no HD channels and no call from Tech Support.
• March 18th: I called Tech Support back and found the second HD order had been canceled as well. Weird. They looked into it, conferred with Sales and ultimately referred me to Tier 2 Tech Support. Tier 2 was also nice and figured out that the problem was due to the HD service address database not recognizing my address. That’s the incompatibility that is preventing me from getting HD service. Their databases aren’t synched. That seems like a pretty basic thing that should have been considered before they launched the service. I have no idea how many other people this affects, but all of the reps said they have seen a few cases before. My case was escalated to “The Ovals”, whoever they are. The Ovals are supposed to take care of it, and Tier 2 asked that I call back in 24 hours to check in on the progress. They were sure it would be resolved by then. Again, I waited patiently and called back the next day.
• March 19th (today): I just got off the phone with Tier 2 support again, who checked with The Ovals and told me that the fix could take 2-4 WEEKS instead of the 2-4 hours I was originally quoted. Their suggestion? Call back 1 or 2 times a week and have Sales try to re-order the HD service. If it doesn’t go through, we’ll know that The Ovals haven’t gotten around to fixing it yet.

Wait, what? I have already spent nearly 2 total hours on hold and in conversation with Sales, Tech Support and Tech Support Tier 2. I’m not allowed to talk to The Ovals. Now I have to call back twice a week for a month? I asked Tier 2 and there is no way to make a note in my account to have them call me when they fix it. Ouch, very ouch.

Here’s the rub. I understand that technical glitches happen. That’s what Tech Support is for. I asked Tier 2 guy if there was any way I could leave feedback on the frustration and wasted time I’ve experienced this week. Nope. I checked the U-verse website and again, no Contact Us forms or phone numbers that didn’t take me back into the Tech Support or Sales channels I’ve already been through.

As a marketer, I realize that there are people within AT&T that would want to know about these problems with their incompatible systems and Tech Support’s inexperience in dealing with this situation. Unfortunately there aren’t any surveys or feedback forms on the website for this type of input. So, here it is.

AT&T, I’m not mad at you yet. I’m still going to wait for my HD service to be fixed. I will call you back in a week or so, but I’m hoping that The Ovals can get this fixed soon and not place the burden on a paying customer to follow up continuously at my own inconvenience.

I will keep this post updated as the situation unfolds.