Bloggers all over the Web are engrossed in a debate: Is there a right or wrong way to use social media? If you ask me, the answer is no. What works for one organization may be completely fatal for another, and my own experience using social media for the university is a great example of this.
I read on a number of prominent social media blogs that you must follow everyone who follows you on Twitter. It made sense to me, so when I started the Twitter account @chicostatepa, I made sure to do just that.
And once I started tweeting from the Twitter account @chicostate, which had more than 350 followers before I was given access to it, I spent more than an hour wading through pages and pages of followers.
But it didn’t take long for a follower to tweet his dismay:
I made sure to post a tweet introducing myself as a fellow Chico State student before I started following anyone, but this student seemed to get the wrong impression.
Unfortunately he wasn’t the only follower disturbed by my attempted politeness. While working with other public relations students at the student-run public relations agency on campus, Twitter came up in our conversation. I mentioned that I run the Chico State account and they all agreed that it was weird that the university was following them on Twitter. A few even said they blocked the account.
Even though the advice I received from seasoned professionals backfired, I don’t agree that we should all stop listening to “social media gurus.” Learning from others’ advice, successes and failures can provide guidance and stimulate new ideas. But in the end only your audience can dictate what’s wrong and what’s right.
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What do you think? Am I using social media for Public Affairs the wrong or right way? Please share your thoughts in the comment section; I’d love to get your opinion!
jgarret12
October 14, 2009
well the right way is to build relationships and develop a following but as far as just posting links all day that is the wrong way.
socialmediaintern
October 14, 2009
Thanks Jessica, I completely agree. Finding a way to build relationships with our followers has been a challenge; any advice?
Amanda
October 18, 2009
I actually disagree. Adding people and trying to build relationships is good for someone looking to get their name out there- like a growing business or a post college student looking for a career. But for the Chico State twitter, I don’t think that you really need to build relationships with students. What I think is important for your tweets is updates on whats going on on campus and around chico. If you follow students, you’ll be swamped with people tweeting their weekend and it will be harder to sift through the more important tweets. If people do want to get your attention, they can through mentions or direct message.
It all depends on the purpose of you twitter and why your tweeple are following you.
socialmediaintern
October 19, 2009
Thanks Amanda,
You make a great point that it all depends on why our followers are following and that’s why I’m glad some followers have replied with their opinions. I’ve only heard from a few, but it seem that we have a combination of followers who want campus updates and those who think connections are more important. I’m going to try doing a little both and hopefully satisfy both sides.