BLUF: Is there any reason for a leader to use Twitter to improve their effectiveness?
I need your help. I'm plugged into many social and other networking applications (LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs, etc), but I'm still yet to enter the tweet-sphere. I've looked at what Twitter does and how it works and I honestly can't see why I'd use it to be more effective as a leader.
The only reason I've been tempted to use it so far would be to try to get more followers than Justin Timberlake. I mean, you always need to be striving for some type of goal, right?
So, on this post I'm hoping to hear from you on whether you use it, why you use it, and whether it can or has improved your effectiveness as a leader. And please don't send me your response in the form of a tweet...
OK - I give up! Given no-one had any comments on this thread after a month I went searching on my own. BLUF: I don’t see any reason for twitter in the workplace or to increase leadership effectiveness. Unless someone can convince me otherwise (and no-one has) I’m not going to bother with twitter, ever.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I did was go to twitter to find leaders. The top hit was http://twitter.com/JessenFelix/business-leaders. Pages and pages of drivel with the occasional commercial from people like Richard Branson.
After a few searches on twitter I gave up looking for anything there, so instead went to manager tools (www.manager-tools.com) to see if anyone had anything to say about twitter on there. I did – see the following links:
http://www.manager-tools.com/2008/10/audio-blog-twitter-i-dont-like-it
http://www.manager-tools.com/forums-3412
http://www.manager-tools.com/2009/04/utility-twitter
Mark Horstman (one of the co-founders of Manager Tools) says it nicely on the first link above (his audio-blog): “You have to control your time. This concept of continuous partial attention, if you've been reading about it, it's complete and utter blather. It makes no sense at all. Executives can only suffer from continuous partial attention, and Twitter is the classic example of it. … I'm sure some of you like it, and that's great. I like playing golf, but I don't do it in my office”.
Some of the forum comments talked about ways their companies are using twitter, however, nothing that I saw couldn’t (and shouldn’t) be done outside email or blogs. No need to create separate systems for the same information (restricted in characters, format, etc).
Goodbye twitter…
Haha!
ReplyDeleteYeah - twitter isn't for everybody. The same way blogging isn't for everybody.
The one good thing I would say that applies to both twittering and blogging is that building an audience that you can interact with is worth something.
Business leaders like Gary Vaynerchuk, 37 Signals and Seth Godin are big on personal branding and building an audience purely because:
1. If you're good at what you do, people want to know how and why you do it.
2. At some point, having a loyal audience helps you do important things like sharing ideas, selling products, starting a debate, encouraging behaviours or promoting something you feel strongly about.
For me - it's about influence, not just saying how delicious your breakfast was.
Cheers
--Phil
As one who loves to be connected on the internet, even when others happily remind me it doesn't mean I'm TRULY connected (MD :)), Twitter just doesn't appeal from a personal or professional perspective.
ReplyDeleteI think because it seems so one sided and almost self-indulgent, I'm not sure how a leader could be more impactful via it's use.
The only thing it might be used for could be as a status update on a project or trip to keep others in the loop, but that can be accomplished via email...
Hi Mark,
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone really understands the power of social media, or what social media may actually become, so it's hard to measure its effectiveness as a management tool or a tool for communication with peers and staff. It is certainly the latest management "must have", along with iPads. I have my doubts, and from a security perspective it is an issues in terms of managing the flow of sensitive information. Personally I think Twitter is a bit vacuous, but I amy be proved wrong in the future (wouldn't be the first time!).
- Rob Sullivan
Rob,
ReplyDeleteI'm back on blogger after an extended break (and we'll see how long it lasts - no promises, but hoping to get more regular now that life has returned to relative normalcy). Anyway - good to hear from you, do drop me a line sometime. It would be good to catch up.
On Twitter, I still am dubious. I've got some insight from people who see value in it, and as more of a two way than one way medium, but still...
Anyway, in an attempt to understand I'm on twitter now. You can find me at @chatwithmd.
Happy posting/emailing/blogging/tweeting/...
MD