Debbie Mayo-Smith: Falling head over heels for Twitter

I had a deep love affair last month. One that monopolised my thoughts. A series of circumstances led to this obsession. Let me tell you about it.

It started during a catch-up with an old colleague of mine, Nigel Horrocks. You may recognise his name. He's been involved with the internet since 1991, helped set up Telecom's Xtra, was the award-winning editor of NetGuide and is now at nzherald.co.nz.

"What do you think about Twitter?" I asked. If anyone knows their internet, it's Nigel.

To date I had just flirted with it. Now, with five billion tweets (the Twitter message with a 140-character maximum) and used by 20 per cent of people on the internet, you've assuredly read about Twitter. Nigel said, "Well, Debbie, Twitter began as a place to send text-type messages about what you're doing right now. It has now evolved as a recommendation engine. You follow people you trust and take note of what they say or advocate. Movies. Products.

Services. Interesting news. Web links. Some sites, especially blogs, are finding the 'referrals' from Twitter links are now becoming bigger than 'referrals' from Google."

My curiosity was piqued but the affair didn't start until two days later.

I was invited to the launch of sy-engage.com, Simon and Marie Young's new social media consultancy. I felt like the black sheep in a paddock full of avid Twitterers. Sy's launch was simulcast on Twitter, including videos. As well, they synchronised a world-first Twitter marketing of the bed and breakfast property Carista House (the venue for the launch).

I left feeling like the chorus of the Black Eyed Peas' new song: "Gotta get get; gotta get get." I had to get get on to Twitter. I wanted to be popular like the others with thousands of followers!

Twitter is everything Nigel said it was. A superb vehicle for promotion? Just think of the exponential audience possibilities. For example, you have 2000 followers and each in turn has 2000 (small numbers by Twitter standards). If only 20 of them retweet (akin to forwarding an email) your contest, event or blog, then your message is instantly in front of 40,000 people. For free.

Use Twitter as a type of focus group for feedback and testing ideas. Twitter search finds who's talking or complaining about your company, so you can put the fire out instantly. Information overload? Let thought leaders, industry movers and shakers or even your friends sort through the internet for you - their tweets directing your attention to relevant and useful content.

A month has passed. My love affair is waning. Why?

Serial Tweeters: Many tweeters rattle off an outrageous number in a row. Less is more in my book. Then you have the people who tweet every cliche inspirational message they get their hands on. After a daily dose of five or six you can't help but gag. Or do the next best thing. Un-follow.

Celebrity watch: Yes, I like having Stephen Fry, Jimmy Fallon, Justin Timberlake and more talking to me. But really - is even one thing they say relevant to me or my world?

Time wasters: How could you get one thing done if you read the tweets of your 6231 followers? Yes, you can split those you're following into different groups to prioritise. But even your high-priority list will deliver many inscrutable replies into your stream. With no relevance to you whatsoever, they tally up to wasted time.

Inscrutable: Normally you can look at a hyperlink and have a feel for where it will take you. The brevity required in Twitter means most shorten the links. You'll have no idea of a click's payoff.

Plagiarism: While retweets are the golden reward for Tweeters, spare us from the plethora of plain boring, unoriginal people whose sole content is retweeting others.

Spam followers: Being naive, I would almost clap my hands when I had a new follower. The brilliant Dave Cooper (king of search engine optimisation and now technical director at Saatchi & Saatchi) told me over coffee that many of the Twitter applications have automatic follow features.

For example, a Twitter search for Tweets with the word "motivation" gives you 5000 people. You can follow all 5000 with a single click.

Let's not forget the "automatically follow who follows me" button. There you are, building an irrelevant list.

So now when I get a message like Desta Jones (who?) with 33,885 followers is now following me and I'm one of the 35,987 she is following, I don't even bother to become her 33,886th follower.

But though my desire for this internet mistress has cooled somewhat, I'm on Twitter to stay.

One caveat: as Nigel noted, "Personal tweeting is easy; but businesses need experienced eyes to use it as a marketing device.

"The wrong comment could easily be retweeted and damage your brand."

Personally, I'm toying with creating a second Twitter identity called pissedoffmum. But until then why not follow me @ms_effective on Twitter for business quick tips and ideas.

Debbie Mayo-Smith is a best-selling author and international speaker.

* www.debbiespeaks.co.nz