Why Twitter Won’t Help Your Business

Allow me to repeat, the title of this blog is “Why Twitter Won’t Help Your Business.” I’m sure I could write a blog where the reverse is true, but today I’m telling you why Twitter isn’t my favorite social networking tool (and yes, many of these same cons could apply to other networks).

Overpopularity, Noise, and Content

There’s just too much noise. It’s hard to sort between the useless “I’m just getting out of the shower” and “I’m having an omelet for breakfast” and actual useful morsels. Because so many twitterers tweet from their phones the site is becoming even more bogged down. No one cares about the mundane details of your daily life! (Or maybe that’s just me. I guess if you like reality TV and wouldn’t mind having no pictures and reading it instead of hearing it…)

Much of Twitter is a numbers game. It’s all a competition to see who can get the most followers. In my world, it is quality that counts, not quantity. Everyone knows that the closer you get to your target market, the higher your conversion rate will be. Why waste your time broadcasting to the world when you could be having smaller conversations at a deeper level? I think this social network is anti-social. People forget to be where they are physically; they’re too busy living life virtually.

Popularity is a double edged sword. When something is really popular, it isn’t cool anymore. Twitterers have a tendency to assume that everyone reads their tweets. This can result in a faulty, inflated sense of self. (I have tens of thousands of followers. I had a conversation with a celebrity.) People also forget that it is quite possible that everybody did read their tweets. So, you thought you were having a conversation with a couple of close friends? Nope, I read about it, too.

Character Limit

As a copywriter, it’s hard for me to say this, but some things just can’t be said in 140 characters or less. And as a writer I have a hard time even texting. I just don’t like to see words spelled wrong!

Time Waste

Let’s not even discuss the time waste factor. If you thought Facebook was bad…

But hey if you’re interested in trying to fit in your own shameless self-promotion on Twitter, that’s fine with me. Just ease into it, get to know the pace and rhythm. Learn the rules, written and otherwise. And if you have success, I’d be happy to hear how you did in the comments below.