I must make a confession, one that probably is not good for someone who wants to be "all that" with the social media scene in public relations. Here is it: I don't get twitter. It is not that I don't want to get twitter, I have really tried, and I want to participate, but I just can't figure it out. When someone says they are having a twitter chat open to anyone following #PRStudChat, how do I participate? I really can't figure it out. How do I respond to someone's post? Right now, the only things I can figure out is how to post and how to retweet, and how to follow people. I also finally figured out what all the tinyurl's were and how/why to use them. But I don't know where to go from here. I want to be involved, but I also don't want to look like an idiot as I try to figure it all out.

Also, is it just me, or do only famous people and PR/advertising/marketing types use twitter? I follow friends and relatives and none of them EVER post a thing on twitter. But all the PR or branding folks I follow post all the time. I also do not post anything very often. I find that the things I want to post are more questions about PR, branding and social media and no one ever answers them. It seems to me that twitter really is just a tiny facebook. We all engage in facebook mostly for our own gratification. Most people who post statuses are posting about things that have made them happy or mad. It is just a way to get things off our chests and show off our pictures, etc. Totally self-gratifying.

I had thought twitter was more of an information exchange social media site. But, when no one answers my questions, and I see that others' questions go unanswered (I would answer many of them, but I can't figure out how to reply), I wonder about the real utility. I certainly don't begrudge people of that self-gratifying need to post things via facebook or twitter. But it just seems to me that twitter is not conducive to REAL information sharing. I get much more out of facebook.



Leave a Reply.