Archive for October, 2009

I came across a really interesting blog today. The writer is a social media strategist who’s posted some great insights about topics such as ’listening’ (whereby you sit quietly and observe what people are tweeting and discussing about your brand) and online transparency.

Great, I thought. I’ll follow him on Twitter.

So off I go to Twitter to check out his page and guess what he’s talking about (and does so a lot): football.

Being an inner-city type, football is not my favourite topic of conversation. Especially not American football (all that armour!).

So do you think I’m going to follow him? No way. I want the good stuff but it seems he keeps that mostly for his blog. Perhaps his Twitter target audience are social media strategists who like football – but what about those who don’t?

Do they really want to know?

This is one element of social media that really confuses me. The blend of the personal and the public. I’m okay with a little bit of it (in fact, I think a smidgeon makes things interesting) but if you do it a lot you end up polluting the message, and even your credibility.

Don’t spill your beans

So my advice is keep things as professional as you would in the real world. Don’t be disarmed by the apparent openness of the online community because just as in the real world, people are pretty quick to judge. If you’ve got a business blog, make sure your professional thread extends to other social media.

You don’t have to write about the same things but the general gist of what you discuss should follow the same narrative and tone.

Agree or disagree? I know there are definitely two camps out there. Which do you fall under?