If you are a twitterer, you have no doubt experienced this annoying problem.  You check your inbox and you see that “peoplegatherer” or “shoes-4-less” is now following you on twitter.  Clearly this company sought you out because they value your opinion and want to connect personally with you right?

Out of some kind of sick impulse, the very kind that causes you to look at roadkill, you click the link and go to their twitter page.  There you see an endless list of selfless marketing propaganda which does no one any  good but the owner of the account.  I have bad news for you, as Twitter continues to gain momentum, we’re in for a lot more of this.

[Before I go further...if you have no idea what Twitter is, please click here.]

Before we scoff too loudly in the direction of the Clueless Company, however, it may behoove us to take a quick peek in the mirror.

Does your college or university have a Twitter account?  If so, why?  The answer “everyone is doing it” didn’t work when you were 15 and it doesn’t work now.  The correct answer is “to help facilitate conversation between the college and interested students, parents, alumni…etc.”

Next question: if you have a Twitter account, are you following people when they follow you?  If not, how do you know what everyone else is saying? More importantly, how often are you monitoring your Twitter for responses?  As a twitterer, there is nothing worse than asking a question via @ or DM and receiving no response from a company or institution.  It’s proof that a Clueless Company is trying to use Twitter.

Here is my last and final question…and one I continue to struggle with… Does your institution use a logo for its Twitter image or one of the person tweeting?  For the record, InnoGage does have a corporate Twitter account (@innogage) and yes, we do use a short version of our logo – no photos.  I’ve debated this issue with myself and many people over the last few weeks.  Here is the consensus… It is OK to use the more impersonal logo as long as the Twitter account discloses who is doing the tweeting.

So, this past weekend, I added my name to the @innogage bio page.  How about you?  What’s your opinion?

Related posts:

1. Social Media Experiment: #NACAC08
2. Social Media… The Most Over Rated Fad in History
3. 2.Ohio Event in Columbus This Friday!
4. Social Media Apps and “Trust”
5. OSU on Social Media

@InnoGage Clueless Social Media Twitter