The beginning of the Rockin' Robin clapping game, that serves as the namesake of this entry, has never been more relevant than it is these days, with Twitter becoming one of the most popular forms of communication. Unfortunately, I have not joined the ranks of rockin’ robins in the tweeting craze. Well, not yet, anyway.
Truth be told, I have been overwhelmed by how fast technology has been progressing, and by how thoroughly social networking media have consumed people’s minds and free time. I know I’m supposed to be part of the younger generations that whole-heartedly embrace the ever-growing digitization of our society, but it kind of gives me the creeps. I like face-to-face interactions. I also have a tendency to enjoy my privacy and solitude at times, and have no desire to know what kind of trouble celebs are getting into at the moment. Not really my idea of entertainment.
It wasn’t until two years ago that I realized just how important Twitter and other social networking media are to the real world – well, at least to the working world. I was interviewing for an HR position with a successful marketing company. It was during the final interview that I was asked if I was tweeting. Now, two years ago, I wasn’t even really sure what tweeting was, and being the technologically-aversed person that I was (and am), I certainly was not participating in such behaviour. Well, to my surprise, the interviewer frowned when I indicated my lack of knowledge and interest, and quickly ended the interview with an abrupt, “We’ll get back to you.” When I contacted her again for feedback, she said that if I wanted to work in an ever-changing industry like marketing, I needed to be more socially and technologically connected.
“I can learn,” I pleaded.
“We don’t want people who can learn it, we want people who are living it”. I couldn’t believe it! I had lost a job opportunity because I wasn’t using some stalker-ware! What does keeping tabs on people’s status updates really have to do with the real world?!
If anything, that experience made me do my best to stay away from these social networking tools even more than before. I couldn’t understand the obsession. But to be honest, I didn’t try to understand it. I didn’t try to ‘live it’. I couldn’t fathom why intelligent people would waste their time on such meaningless behaviour.
As it turned out, my career path upon graduating from undergrad led me to work in several marketing contracts, during which I was required to make use of social networking media such as Facebook. It was as if some force was pushing me towards an acceptance of these tools, no matter how hard I tried to keep them away. In my latest marketing role, I was required to use video broadcasting as a marketing tactic. Last week, I was referred to the excellent site SocialMediaExaminer to pick up some tips, when I encountered one of those intrusive, annoying pop-ups. I automatically jerked the mouse toward the ‘x’ that would close the window, but I caught the word Twitter in the pop-up, and let my hopeless curiosity get the better of me. It was an ad for a Twitter tutorial, and after some slight hesitation, I clicked on it.
I cannot impart the simple yet eye-opening information Mike Stelzner offered in his video tutorial. I would suggest that anyone who is the least bit interested in seeing how they can use Twitter for promotional purposes watch this video. It showed me a glimpse of the possibilities that lie within my reach just by making use of the Twitosphere. I now see that Twitter is an amazingly brilliant piece of work and vision, and if some users choose to use it as stalker-ware then that’s their loss, because it has so much more to offer.
I am both excited and scared about what possibilities this tool might hold for me. Excited, because of the doors this could open for my marketing project and future ones. Scared because I can barely handle the emails flooding my inbox, let alone the possiblity of a ton of tweets overloading my photoreceptors. But maybe it’s time I give it a chance. I am about to sign up for a Twitter account. I have entered in all the pertinent info; now all that’s left is to press the ‘Create my account’ button. Well, no time like the present.
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