Social Media is Not Free

I was so excited, completely ready to boast the conveniences of social media platforms in the midst of dwindling ad market value to those companies knocking at Axiom’s door. And then it hit me—almost to the point of regurgitation. Social media is not free? What?! It may seem like a priceless avenue, but it takes A LOT out of you.

Consider those who are “Twitter whores" (not my words, Twitter’s) and how much time it takes them to become an elusive Twitter whore. Yes, the account set-up was free, but now they find themselves tweeting incessantly and not getting any work done (or are they?). I have Twitterberry and seldom use it for fear that I will have two ball and chains, integrated at best.

Not surprising at all but many companies are now searching out the most influential Twitter users—and perhaps they might hire them to “tweet” with a “twosse” on a freelance basis. Anyone know Pierre who sits for four hours at the local Starbucks and tweets about fashion sense on behalf of clothing retail clients? I do. He lives in New York City and gets paid handsomely.

One platform of the many platforms out there, Twitter is a free device that has a future; optimism touted among the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs of society, and a glass-half-empty mentality donned by PR peeps looking for real value.

Correct me if I’m wrong and if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go read a lengthy dissertation on why businesses should be on Twitter by GeekPreneur.

Last Night, Facebook became Twitter

Did you notice something last night on Facebook? I did. A lot of people were updating their statuses frequently while the election results came in. It reminded me of something else....oh yeah, Twitter.

I would estimate that about 98% of my Facebook friends are currently not on Twitter, so this was very interesting to watch. A few people commented on how much fun they were having checking the updated statuses of everyone. This furthers my belief that Twitter will eventually go mainstream. It is still with the early adapters, but I believe it is nearing the tipping point.

When the status feature of Facebook was first introduced, it was mocked just like Twitter is by some people, "Why do I care what you had for lunch?" But eventually people have embraced the status feature, which is what I believe will soon happen with Twitter. There is value in both, but it is up to you to find where the value is.