How many distinct uses are there for Twitter?
On the most basic level, you can keep tabs on your friends, stalk celebrities, and read up on blogs and news feeds of interest.
But beyond these most common utilities, Twitter can serve as a tool for connecting with others with similar interests. The day after I wrote a post debating whether to enroll in a Gay and Lesbian Documentary course, “LogoChannel” (whose biography describes it as “a television channel for the LGBT community), began following my tweets. Side note: Though I did enroll in the class, I must say that the content of my posts has likely been disappointingly irrelevant since.
Beyond personal ventures, however, Twitter has inevitably evolved into a powerful direct marketing tool. Case in point: last week, my coworker Anthony tweeted that he was, “hanging shelves tonight.” Shortly thereafter, he received a direct reply from another Twitter account stating, “dont forget to use [brand name] anchor to hang up your friends shelf. Go to [company’s web address] use coupon code twitter1 for 10% off.”
Well, there you have it. Who can be more effectively convinced to buy shelf hanging products (at a discount, no less!) than a person who has just admitted they’ll be performing that very activity in the near future? Probably no one.
A glance at the latest string of tweets from this user demonstrates that the account exists for the sole purpose of direct marketing. And because a Twitter account is free, this targeted coupon distribution costs only the manpower (or computer program power, as the case may be) to hunt down these relevant entries and fire a pre-written pitch in their direction.
The effectiveness of this technique, in both cost and reach, will likely lead to its widespread promulgation. As of now, a user’s only real defense against such marketers is to make their updates private. Doing so, however, has the simultaneous effect of cutting off much of Twitter’s utility as a networking service. What is the unhappily targeted consumer to do?
After its initial growth spurt, Facebook began a policy of forcibly shutting down fictional profiles, particularly those created in the name of celebrities and fictional characters (though this did have the unfortunate side effect of barring from the site all the real life Yodas and Batmans of the world). Perhaps a policy of monitoring Twitter accounts for similar dissenters is not far off.
As a consumer, do you find this marketing approach desirable because of the relevant discount offers that it’s likely to include, or is it just pesky and intrusive? How would you feel if Twitter implemented a policy that forbade accounts designed solely for marketing purposes? Tell us your thoughts.
