Twitter is a relatively new craze that seems to be sweeping the online world. Many of my golf blogging
buddies are using Twitter, but I was slow to get on the bandwagon. I wasn’t sure why except for maybe it was just something else to follow and take up precious time and thought energy.
Promotion
Many people promote their sites or blogs by using tools like social networking sites, photo sharing, participating in forums and now Twitter. I never really did any of that. I make comments on blogs I read that pique my interest but never just to spread myself around. Some people are really good at that and their sites grow in traffic and popularity because of it. I understand the value of all that, I just can’t keep up with it all – there’s so much to follow and stay up on. I joined many of the sites where perhaps I should spend more time to actually make them work for me, I just can’t be bothered. Now I’ve done the same thing with Twitter.
What is Twitter?
In case you don’t know, Twitter is basically a constant chat room in which you can select the people you want in it at all times. You find people to “follow” and add them to your list, and you can have all their “tweets” come right into your own custom chat room. (Tweets are how people communicate on Twitter – kind of like text messages – and must be 140 characters or less.) People can choose to follow you, and your tweets are seen by them. If someone clicks on your Twitter place, they’ll see your room and all your tweets and can choose to follow any of your followers or followees. It seems to be a great way to share interests, join groups, and expose your site to potential new readers/customers. It probably works more quickly because of the directness and interaction than myspace, facebook, flikr and many others. But again, now that I joined, I just can’t seem to put in the “work” to go around networking and getting myself out there to really make this chat room for grown ups work for me. Maybe I’m just lazy – I don’t know.
When it’s not enough to have good content
I’ve put so much content on this site over the years and I get decent traffic from google because of it. I haven’t really done any SEO or promotion, and just let my content do all the work for me. Dumb, I know. A golf blog can come along and with hardly any content, do some promotional networking, take advantage of Twitter, and surpass me in a heartbeat. At least with quantity of visitors. But what about quality? When someone clicks on an outgoing link or ad from my site, it’s a pretty good click. So am I just a twit?
July 13, 2008 at 11:24 pm
I’ve found that Twitter is just like blogging, in general. Everyone gets a different value or experience out of it.
Everyone also has different goals, too. For some, it’s self promotion. For others, it’s participation in a community of like-minded individuals. For others, it’s an amusing diversion. Just like blogging.
I’d say you’re definitely not a twit for trying it out and realizing that it’s just not doing anything for you and stepping away.
As far as people taking advantage and surpassing you – it’s only a competition if that’s why you’re in it. After over a year of this, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m just going to do what I want to do and if I stay stagnant, then so be it.
My philosophy is the same as yours – put out the best content I can and the rest will work itself out. I’ve been trying to get better at networking and SEO, but that stuff is all secondary to the enjoyment I get out of what I do.
July 13, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Well said, Double Eagle. And you’re right – it’s not a matter of competition, I’d just rather have those readers find a good, robust and real site than a thin advertising outlet.
I guess when it comes right down to it, I love blogging. 140 characters on Twitter just doesn’t do it for me no matter what the goal.
July 13, 2008 at 11:59 pm
I’d have to agree with both of you. Unless I can figure out how to retire on $33.67/month. For me it’s a time and attention issue. I’d have to work at it full time to take advantage of the social sites, write what I write, and then twit? Can’t do everything.
PS- From what I’ve seen you’ve done very well with your site doing what you’re doing.
July 14, 2008 at 12:12 am
Personally, I am about Twittered out. I have been out on Twitter for several months now and probably should have bailed several months ago. But I hung in there just to make sure I was not missing something which everyone one was telling me would come in time.
Well, I have the same question today as I had when I started with Twitter and that is..What does Twitter do?
Nobody can answer it because like DoubleEagle said, it is different for each person.
OH, I had my moments on Twitter and I have met some good people on Twitter, but overall the experience has cost me a lot of time which I spent in hopes it would drive more traffic to my site. That didn’t happen. Why?..well, like is the fact with the rest of the internet, there just are not that many people on Twitter that really are wanting to get interactive, espically for golf.
Plus, now Twitter is becoming a draw to the MLM’s, Direct Marketers, spammers and other marketers focused on the never ending quest for more traffic which is now driving many people away from Twitter. The Twitter servers are overloaded with people posting one post by the dozens with nothing but links to their site and posting no replies or providing any benefit to any community on Twitter.
I totally agree that quality content on a blog provides for a more rewarding experience for me and my advertisers.
So I see my time on Twitter becoming less and less as I move back to doing what I have enjoyed doing and that is blogging, podcasting and videocasting..seems to be a more enjoyable way of marketing what I do.
Thanks for providing a platform to address this issue and good to see you tried Twitter.
July 14, 2008 at 2:49 am
Golf Chick,
I like your blog… Have been lurking. Thought I might could input something here that might be cool for you. There’s a site I use called HelloTXT.com – it allows you to update all your different microblogs like twitter at once. You just put in your post and it updates across all channels. I do IM & SEO and these sites would take up too much time without a tool like this… Let me know if you like it!
Kevin
Cool Golf Tips
July 15, 2008 at 2:01 am
Golf Chick, I agree, way too much to stay up on when you write a blog (or blogs), have a professional life, etc. BTW, I was in your neck of the woods last month, at a wedding in Moorpark.
July 15, 2008 at 2:43 am
Bob- Totally time and attention! And thanks for the kind words.
MrBG- But you’re such a good and active twitterer!
I would have thought you’d be one of the ones having success with it. If it hasn’t worked for you, what’s the point?
Kevin- Thanks for coming out of the woodwork and giving us that tip!
Armchair- Did you play any golf while you were out here? Thanks for letting me know AFTER the fact. 😛
July 15, 2008 at 5:02 am
Twitter is also getting much press on wall street. Limiting your textual communication to 40 characters…Who would have guessed this concept would have been so successful?
http://www.golf.net
July 19, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Blogging is best for expressing big ideas, if you can’t convey new ideas on your blog, then you probably won’t get a lot of traffic. And most blogs that do well have a single theme and the audience can depend on the theme dictating the content of the blog. But Twitter is not good for fleshed-out ideas. I see people using Twitter for a lot of stuff, but not for fleshed-out ideas.
It is good for networking i find. I have found ‘ve had common interests with bloggers who wouldn’t read my blog and gained new readers that way.
However, it’s not for everybody i understand, and few weeks back i’ve uninstalled Twirl for the pure and simple reason i’ve too much on…
July 22, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Twitter seems the be the latest and greatest fad to hit the interwebnets. But I think it’s just that, a “fad”, and like all fads they die out eventually.
Maybe I’m a fuddy-duddy, but I don’t get the point of Twitter. Content is king when it comes to blogging. Stick to what you’re doing and you will continue to do fine.