Twitter: Commanding Respect - Lessons in Social Media Deportment

Do all these manners and protocol apply to Twitter? After all, it's just a throw away post, right? With 95 Million tweets sent out every day, how can one rude tweet be traceable or even matter? Would anyone be bothered by racist comments or foul language meant for friends only? How easy it is to forget that anyone can read anything that you publicly post at any time.

Twitter boasts 175 Million registered users. Can you even visualize how many people that is? The Staples Center where the Lakers play in Downtown Los Angeles can seat up to 20,000 people. I have been to several events at the Staples Center. The crowd is phenomenal and almost unimaginable, even as you sit there and look around. University of California State Fullerton had over 40,000 registered students last semester. That is twice the size of the city where I lived in Indiana. Hard to comprehend. But that number is less than 0.03% of the number of Twitter users.

The funny thing about Twitter? More people read and click than type and tweet. Users go to find information, to learn about products, to seek out real-time data, to search out details, to locate people, companies, and brands. THEY look for you. You don't have to look for them. That is the beauty of Twitter; it is permission marketing at its best.

Two years ago, I started a Twitter column that captured any tweet that mentioned the word "recruiter." It didn't even have to be hashtagged. It sought out and highlighted each and every tweet, as they came in, real-time. I was shocked by what was being posted about recruiters, the language that was used by those, outside of our industry, who were dealing with recruiters and the contempt and disgust that was sometimes spewed. I started re-tweeting what was said. I wanted our industry to know that smarm was alive and well amongst us. I also wanted to show the power of Twitter and for what it could be used.

What you tweet can be tracked. Listen in on a Twitter chat every now and again and you'll realize how important and impactful instant communication and collaboration can be. Ask the numerous individuals that have been fired for tweeting indiscriminately. Ask the restaurants that are using Twitter to monitor what customers like and dislike about their food and service. Ask the universities that want to know what their students are tweeting about. Big Brother has his hand in this cookie jar, to be sure. And we have all heard of random Direct Messages that accidentally went public. Ouch. This isn't a swing set on a playground. Not only the new kid in town, Twitter is a powerful business tool that commands respect and deserves it. We should probably start acting like it.