Is Twitter Intuitive or am I bonkers?

This blog post has popped into my head a number of times recently. When it does come in I quickly tell it go away because ‘it’s daft’ . But now I’m not too sure. So I ask this question in the hope that you will share your thoughts and hopefully not call me bonkers to my face 😉

I have a growing belief that twitter is intuitive. What I mean is, if I am looking for an answer to something or a resource, there it is, in my timeline. As if like magic.

If you are a reader of ‘the secret’ or the secret’s grandaddy and my absolute favourite book in all the world, Napoleon Hill’s Think and grow rich you will suggest that this is so because my intention has gone out before me and lo and behold it grabs me what I have asked for. Cool!

In my book Twitter just got a whole lot more effective. How wonderful that this ‘secret’ that the richest and most powerful people in the world knew the power of and had to work at, now has a brand new channel. An ever growing, fast moving and infinite channel of mastermind voices of 140 characters.

I used to worry about missing important stuff if I clogged my timeline up with people who weren’t on my wavelength, I was concerned that my diversity was holding me back from some really good stuff. But now with my new found faith in the intuitive twitter I don’t worry so much. I put my intention out there and turn my timeline on and wait for the twitterverse to come to my aid.

Do we care about the people who don’t care

last week was an interesting one for me.

I went to 2 social media events, one in the audience and one as a speaker.

The first was Random 2 hosted by Ann Holman of the Ann Holman company. The discussion soon went to the type of interaction which was occurring within social media. Without a shadow of a doubt those in the room were of the opinion that those people who were ‘broadcasting’ rather than interacting, who were taking rather than sharing should ‘take a hike’ and go do it somewhere else and not mess around with what has become a much loved mechanism for social media purist marketers. (I’m paraphrasing and taking huge liberties, but you get my drift)

The second event was a free information share with an alliance of Nexus, myself and Ashfords. We were speaking about how business’s can grow by social media. Many in that room were open to the ideas we shared, were enthusiastic to the opportunities that Social media offered. But there were just as many who were negative and sat arm folded, waiting to be convinced.

We all tried to tell the latter that no magic bullet existed, no on could give them (especially not in 45 mins ) a bespoke strategy that would give them the big results that were required to stop the slide in market share or slump in business some, that no doubt, were experiencing.

I tried to use traditional media and it’s limitations as a ‘them & us’ broadcast platform to illustrate the differences; in the hope that the opportunities would appear and excite. However on reflection it became clear that if you have been in business for the past 4 or 5 years you would not have been able to avoid the fact that social media is alive and very much kicking. My research of the group showed that most had given it a go, some had a facebook page, many were members of linked-in and a few had even dabbled with twitter. But some had made a decision some time ago that they weren’t getting involved and this event was another opportunity to go back and tell people why they weren’t getting involved; for the same old reasons they have given time and time again!

As an Ex Newspaper exec, I am used to standing up and flogging my wares; offering the world and charging the earth. Last week I believe all the speakers were offering alternatives which cost nothing except imagination, creativity, planning and a bit of effort.

Ah ha, lightbulb moment, maybe that’s the problem with those who aren’t interested. If that’s the case I’m not sure we should bother to get them on board, because if they are there they will suck out a lot of the fun and creativity that is within in and change it for the rest of us.

So what to do, what do we do about those who don’t care. Do we try and convice them, ie push them into it or do we give those who are a little bit interested and ‘pull’ them up with us. Or do we just not give a d***n and build our own elitist cliques away from those we don’t want to communicate with?

I am now firmly on the side of pull. I want to share and be involved with anyone who wants to get involved, I love being mentored and can name a few fabulous people who have helped me in the past and I love helping others get the most of the phenomenan and all that it can offer. I have a contempt for any form of elitist behaviour and will be growing a much thicker skin for anyone I have to push. BUT, if they change their minds I wont hold it against them. Promise.