"The actors and jesters are here
The stage is in darkness and clear
For raising the curtain
And no-ones quite certain whose play it is
-- "If Everyone Was Listening", Supertramp
Erik Qualman wonders if on Twitter anyone is listening.
He answers himself with a "no", arguing that listening and partcipiating doesn't scale:
"As more people join Twitter, this type of one-to-one relationship will be difficult to maintain. Many celebrities already have "ghost tweeters."
In the future, instead of getting a witty and salient reply from a CEO or well-informed employee, you'll most likely get an uninspired reply from a call center (tweet center?) in New Delhi -- if you're lucky to get a response at all."
Yes -- but no.
With Many Listening, One Scales Infintely
Twitter is not a one-to-many or many-to-one medium; Twitter is a one-to-one-with-many-listening medium.
That one talk with one customer at one moment is overheard by tens, hundreds, sometimes thousands.
The uniqueness of that one moment when one person took time for ME is such that people broadcast the interaction and amplify it.
This is demonstrated by the fact that Erik didn't have the chance to have a one-on-one interaction with JetBlue while he does have knowledge of their one-on-one Twitter activity... QED.
The CEO's Tweet Isn't The Reason For The Tweeter
But face it: the reason people tweet and the reason people follow eachother's tweet is not because JetBlue, Zappos or BBGeeks are online and might respond.
People primarily tweet among each other about the mundane.
In numbers & pretty charts (tm) that means that people are more likely to talk about bagels than about Tim Horton's.
Now I'm off to Twitter to follow Erik Qualman whose article I learned about via a tweet from Glenn Gabe...
About the Author: Ruud Hein
