What is your Social Media of Choice

Everybody has their social media of choice. Perhaps Facebook for the photo sharing, maybe Pinterest for is addictive photo pinning capabilities. For me it’s Twitter hands down. I will hold my hands up and confess that when Twitter first emerged in 2006 (I know, can you believe it’s been around for almost 9 years) I mocked its very existence. I was one of the neigh sayers, the “that’ll never take off” brigade. How wrong I was…..not just a bit wrong, but spectacularly wrong (at the last count there were 554,750,000 registered Twitter users).

My main reservation initially was the 140 character restriction. What on earth can you write in 140 characters that would be worth reading, and who would want to read it, I argued. Well, it took a lot of resisting before I finally succumbed to the world of Twitter, Tweets and Tweeps.

Twitter – slow to start

It was a slow start. Who should I follow? Who shouldn’t I follow? What should I write about? Am I interesting enough? With some trepidation I began tweeting and following and low and behold, people started following back. Not only did they follow back, they were kind enough to re-tweet me and thank me for following. Never before in the world of social networking had I experienced such good manners. And that’s the great thing about Twitter. Celebrity spats aside, Twitter is full of polite, professional people.

Twitter – converted

Prior to my Twitter conversion, I was a Facebook devotee through and through. Now, don’t get me wrong, Facebook has many advantages, but my biggest gripe is that people insist on using it as a soapbox to air their grievances and prejudices (I generalise of course but you catch my drift). What starts out as a friendly post can fast turn into a bitter argument filled with anger and expletives. On a personal page, this may in some instances be acceptable. On a business page, however, it is not. Also, Facebook, in my opinion, is not particularly business friendly, particularly for b2b companies. Twitter, on the other hand, comes into its own in the business environment.

Regualr user on Twitter?

I have yet to meet a person who uses Twitter on a regular basis who have not either made valuable contacts or indeed sales. You will find a plethora of like-minded people who encourage and support without asking for anything in return.

I may seem a little sad, but when I see that I have a new interaction, I still get a little excited (I know, I really need to get out more!) I am shocked on a daily basis at how many businesses either don’t have a Twitter account or think it’s just enough to set up an account and leave it to its own devices. Granted, it takes work, but it is such a valuable business tool – a huge online networking group where the potential is limitless.

So, to sum up, Twitter is an informal, friendly, professional networking group which should be seen not as a silly social media gimmick, but as a powerful sales and marketing tool, and for all these reasons, Twitter surely is THE social media of choice. Ladies & Gentlemen, I rest my case.

Tweet you later Tweeps!

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