Why do you Tweet?

Last week, Liz Strauss of Successful and Outstanding Blog(gers) wrote a very thought provoking post entitled: It’s Not How Big the Tool … It’s the Thought, Skill, Fluency, and Authenticity Behind It. In it she asks the question:

How do we help business become fluent in the social sphere while maintaining authenticity for us all?

I’ve been thinking lately about all articles and “discussions” about social networking and social media. It strikes me, at least in my experience, that most of the discussions center around how to best use social media for marketing or promoting your business. I’ve been wondering is that all Twitter and other social sites are good for? Are there people in the social arena that have no agenda other than to build relationships? Why do you tweet?

I realize that something has to be done in this day and age of cynical distrust of business and marketing. However, it strikes me as disingenuous when there is such a huge focus on using the social to promote your agenda. Liz’s question is a vital one, because if you are not genuinely trying to connect with me regardless of the end result then our relationship will be based on deceit. That’s not a good basis for any relationship.

My roommate told me the other day that he got a direct message on Twitter from someone he followed. That direct message was nothing more than an ad for that person’s business. He told me the following:

“I felt like I introduced myself with ‘Hi, I’m Mike.’ and he responded with a commercial. ‘Hi, Mike. Take a look at my product, it’s really cool.’”

I’m not just talking about spamming here. Spammers will always be with us (unfortunately), but in the rush to use Twitter and other media to promote our businesses are we killing genuine connections?

I really believe that Liz asked a very valuable and important question, but I want to ask a deeper one. Why do you Tweet? This isn’t about authenticity, it’s about motive. Until you settle that, authenticity is moot.

What are your thoughts? Is it wrong to promote an agenda on Twitter? Is creating a connection with people the only good reason for Tweeting? Why or why not? How can we prevent the promotion of an agenda from blocking genuine connections?

Leave me a comment and tell me what you think. I genuinely want to know, why do you tweet?

Picture provided by Flickr user 7son75 under Creative Commons License.

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