twitter isn't chat, it's a conversation... of sorts

Twitter is a conversation - or at least that's what I always was lead to believe.

However, rather than being a real "conversation" in the colloquial sense, Twitter is more like an extremely large panel discussion.  The topic: our lives.

Twitter is unlike any other conversation.
Twitter is different.

• In chat environments (ex - AIM) users are open and speak fairly freely. 
• In Twitter however, people are generally careful in terms of both what they say, and how they say it.
• Chat users often use text shortcuts - ex - c u l8r means see you later.
• While twitter users may not use proper grammar, they will rarely utilize text shortcuts.
• Conversations in many YouTube comment threads are often both anonymous and infantile.
• Conversations in Twitter are generally transparent, personal and reasonable.
• Conversational Marketing guidelines for blogs are clearly outlined by WOMMA.
• Conversational Marketing guidelines for Twitter are noticeably absent.

Ask 10 people how they use Twitter, and you will likely get 10 distinct but similar answers. There is no right or wrong way to leverage the channel, there is however, a fundamental necessity that one understands the channel before activating within it.  (disclaimer - interrupting and/or polluting the digital or social channel is as always, the wrong way to use it).

Key Takeaway: New platforms introduce new behaviors and new opportunities.  Marketing within these platforms is dissimilar from anything we've seen before.  Analogies will demonstrate something similar to the experience being discussed, but there's nothing like the real thing.  Twitter isn't chat and it isn't blogging.  It's something new.  If you want to understand it, then your can't just read about it, you have to get your hands wet.  Dive in. You may even have some fun along the way!

See you there!

For more on this topic, check out these posts : here, here, here, here and here.

Comments

[Chris Webb]

Great post John. Initially I found a lot of resistance to Twitter not only within my company but my industry, but I think many are finally coming around.

I posted some similar thoughts about Twitter as a Conversation Ecosystem http://ckwebb.com/social-networks-and-media/twitter-is-a-conversation-ecosystem/ which focused a bit more on the signal to noise argument that some have against twitter and similar tools.

I do think you hit the nail on the head - many people who dismiss tools like twitter as having no value, have never really used them for any length of time.